doesn't exist'. Teachers are reporting it as endemic among the younger
set- to them a keyboard and a screen is their ONLY portal to recorded
storehouses of knowledge. Spending a day in the stacks, much less using an
old-style physical card catalog, would bore them to tears.

The reality of most libraries is that they just don't have reasonable
coverage.

Even some college (and most Jr. College) libraries just don't have much
coverage.

For folks in World Class cities (NY, Chicago, London, ...) there are
libraries that definitely would compete with the internet. Perhaps some
medium sized cities (Pittsburgh, Washington Public Library) have 1/2 good
coverage in the main branch. (Of course, DC is the Library of Congress).

Most high school and below libraries are somewhat of a joke. But if you
can find a good book it will definitely beat the "net" in the area it does
cover.

If you have a specific problem and you want to find some information on it,
the typical library will just not have much help. But if you just want to
write a term paper you can just pick a topic that's "covered" by the library
you have.

aem sends...