I'd say 'yes' to the need for public libraries, at least for a generation or two.
Use of my local libraries is up because of the web, as I mentioned in a previous post, but that means that while folks are searching for books, requesting books, and renewing books online, those *books* are still the physical books that are picked up and dropped off at brick and mortar libraries.
Anytime I want to know more about something I've read (heard) about online, I see if there's information in the local library and check it out if so. Physical books, anyway.
Frankly, the few times I've "checked out" an ebook from the library, I've ended up frustrated and haven't finished the book. Though I read ebooks all the time (and have for years), the ones through the library are so crippled with DRM and restricted readers, that they are more trouble than they're worth.
(For those who haven't 'checked out' an ebook, it's all done online, at least in my area, and they can only be read on a computer, not downloaded to a reading device (in my case, a Palm). I put 'checked out' in shudder quotes because there's never any 'out' about it.)
As to the 'trash' aspect of public libraries... all I can say is that I'm very glad no one has the right to restrict what I want to check out of a public library just because someone believes I shouldn't want to read it.
And some academic libraries *are* public in the sense that they are supported by taxes, though their mandate is different.
Gotta say thanks to good ole Ben.
