“The number of visits made to libraries nationwide more than doubled between 1990 and 2001, according to the most recent data available from the American Library Association. Sixty-two percent of adult Americans surveyed in that 2002 study said they had a library card, and they visited libraries an average of 13 times per year. Part of the draw results from the depressed economy. “Instead of paying $24.95 for a best seller, they say, ‘I think I’ll get it from the library.’ But a bigger increase, some analysts believe, comes from libraries’ nimbleness in adopting new technologies. Rather than becoming obsolete in the Internet age, they have expanded their role.”