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It has been many years since I borrowed print books from a library. I used to practically live in libraries, and was fortunate to be near some extraordinary libraries, but over time have found myself living in places where libraries did not have collections that fulfilled my interests, while online purchasing offered a compelling and convenient alternative (thanks to Amazon). Since getting an ereader I have all but stopped purchasing print books in favor of ebooks.
In recent months, no thanks to Amazon, I've been borrowing ebooks from one of 3 libraries that I have access to (none of which are particularly convenient for me to visit in person). The selection and availability is not great, but there's enough there to comprise a significant part of my 'diet' of late.
I don't think it is realistic to expect public libraries to compete with paid alternatives when it comes to selection, availability and convenience (or for publishers to allow them to do so). At most, they can fill some gaps with respect to what is legally available online for free, and curate a digital collection and range of services that their community values enough to support with their tax dollars.
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