> Information is available “almost literally for free and instantly” to people who can afford a device that connects to the internet.

... and who have a sufficient working knowledge of how computers and the internet work in order to take advantage of that information.

In line with what you and others have said, what I've observed at the libraries I've been to is that the people who get the most value out of libraries are the people that would otherwise be left behind by technology. I don't think that's something we can or should dismiss out of hand just because I/we don't personally get a lot of value from them. That is, unless we want to develop an underclass of people shut out from the rest of society.