This is the key point. Many, many people do not have the informational literacy to even begin to do research work on their own in any medium, let alone on the I

This is the key point. Many, many people do not have the informational literacy to even begin to do research work on their own in any medium, let alone on the Internet. Furthermore, many documents and resources aren't digitized and aren't on any kind of networked computer or database, so how exactly is someone supposed to access these materials and in a timely fashion? Librarians specialize in knowing how to find and navigate those materials and sources.