[carpetmojo]

If you only use a library to get books, it is faintly feasible the internet might take over this function, but all books would have to be available, everyone would need a device & know how to use it , the support network would need to be vast, and we all would need to pay taxes to support the whole model.And you still wouldn't have the whole experience and history that is the library.

Culturally, surely the internet is simply an organ of dissemination and manipulation of facts and opinions. It involves no face-to-face interaction, no widespread arts and" humanities" creativity.
Bit like, for me, a dry bread, steamed bacon sandwhich, with no brown sauce or salt of any kind !

It is extremely useful, like an encyclopaedia is, handy for convenience, in communication and carrying out more and more tasks...................Now, I would be lost without it.
Well, praps not that bad, but certain things would be a hassle, some things I'd miss.
But it is essentially sterile, a tool.
When we attempt to assign more meaningful qualities to it, a simple face to face conversation between 2 people can be seen to be an incredibly complex, important, difficult, wonderful thing.

A visit to see/touch a sculpture, see a picture, experience a beautiful view, watch a play/film, that's cultural.
A picture or sculpture, say, created online, isn't as full, complete, as one created in reality by an artist and shown in physical reality.

That's why, despite loving my ereader, I still love the experience of a real book, and a squidgy bacon sandwhich.
That's why I think it would be a sad day if we all started, basically, to make the internet more than it is.

Because that would mean we had lost all the rest.

Including the Library.