First time here (thanks for inviting me
There is no way that physically going to a library will, or should, ever be required to check out an eBook; that's just plain silly! That misses whole point of having ebooks in the first place, and eliminates their main advantage.
And as for the split between eBooks and pBooks, this is not an either/or question. Clearly eBooks are the way of the future and their use will gradually increase as eReaders become more widely used, and publishers agree to make them available. But pBooks aren't going to disappear anytime soon, obviously. They will continue to have their place as a traditional alternative long into the future.