E-books and Internet Cafes

As I sit here contemplating technology, I'm looking at a book shelf full of books. I do wonder what the information sources will look like in a few years.
Don't get me wrong. I believe that books (paper books) will persist through my life time. I'm not saying anything about the upcoming technologies by saying this. This is a comment on the people involved -- the people age 25 and up will continue to want to hold a book in their hands for a long time. That period of time will probably be for the rest of their lives. Professionally, for me, that means that books will be sitting in libraries for a while.
Now, for the other side of that problem. The books will continue to exist, but they might not continue to exist with the same prominence that they currently enjoy. I don't think this is too much of a stretch, really. Black and white movies and silent movies are still available, but they aren't the main thing. So the paper books will eventually work their way into the "literature" section of the library with the other old stuff.
The interesting piece though is what happens next. Let's say that someone were to make a nice interface for an electronic book (or really, an electronic library) with all the things that go along with it. The purchasing, lending, leasing, reading, printing, and searching have all been worked out. Let's then say that this trinket actually catches on. Apple could do this, for example. Let's just say that they decide they want to and do it.
Then in a period of five years, all the paper books would be relegated to a different category in the library... and most libraries would be configured incorrectly. In fact, in that case, libraries would be in big trouble. An Apple computer-like site that provided books for download for purchase or rent would make a library a very difficult sell.
I suppose this gets a the question of what a library is. In one sense I think that a libary is like a Blockbuster or Family Video version of Borders. The main difference is that the library generally has better meeting facilities and the computer facilities are free. If Borders opened an Internet cafe and had a "party room" the differences would be even smaller. Consider that a public library is a government subsidized book and media rental place, with the fees charged only (or mainly) on overdue items.
Having said that, if someone does start offering e-books, Borders and all those sorts of stores will be worse off than the libraries, so that is something. In fact, that might be one of the reasons that all of the books stores sell music and DVDs also. They want to be able to sell media when the time comes -- or else they will cease to exist.
The reason that this sort of change will be difficult for librarians is that the change will mark a further change in the design of libraries. If the books are not current -- not in the main stream anymore -- but the content is available through other means, then something strange happens. Take away all the sections of the building that are dedicated to storing, moving and finding books (specfically) and huge chunks of existing library buildings just go away.
The library will become something more like an Internet Cafe than it is now. The good news is that I like coffee. In that sort of environment, the library staff will be largely the sort of staff that you'd find at an internet cafe. That would be techie types and quite possibly people serving up beverages. There will be ample opportunity for assistance, but it will be a different kind. It will look a lot like technology training, I think. The reason I think this is that Apple (or whoever else pulls off a "nice" ebook) will surely have a quality interface, with training and tutorials and references and whatever, built into their service. That is a necessary component for the ebook to be "nice."
Well, anyway, I was just trying to contemplate what a good ebook would do to a library. I think it's coming, and when it comes it will happen fast. By fast, I mean Apple iTunes fast. Well, it will be interesting to see what happens.