Libraries once were a public asset arguably worth taxing society for, but things are different now. With the internet, particularly, access to literature is everywhere. It's tough to make the case for the buildings, the staff, the materials, the overhead, etc., etc. Alas, I hated to see mimeograph machines go too, but it's best to let these things pass fondly into memory.
No doubt about it, things are different. And sometimes I think I'm soon to be one of those relics. I read plenty on the internet but I also like the look, feel, and smell of a book and for me, the internet is no replacment. In fact, I don't have patience to read on the internet anything that is more than two pages. If I get a long e-mail at work, I print it out.
I'm just hoping that the changes also won't mean the end of things that are worthwhile. That people who care about education and literacy will use the internet not just as a time-waster and fantasyland, but will dig to find things the library won't shelve, or maybe even things people can't readily buy. And that they will pass this along to others, especially their kids if they have them. That's what I've always tried to do with mine. I have a first-grader who is interested in the stuff all first-graders are interested in. But I've also worked to help him be interested in books -- and he is. We get them from the library. We buy them. A while back we picked up a stack of books for him and "The Old Man and the Sea" for myself. He was intrigued by the picture of the fisherman and fish on the cover, and asked me if there were other pictures. I told him there weren't. But he wanted to have a try at reading it, and he did. I told him to make sure he told his teacher that he had been reading Hemingway with his old man!