I was just about to mention that.

The vulnerability to this kind of exploitation takes a different from than the emergency room. The Internet, search engines, Google, and so on created a kind of identity crisis in the library world, partially stemming from the people who think that they're going to learn with any depth from a quick search, but also self-inflicted, "Who are we in a 'digital age'?" sort of wailing. And so libraries are forever giving away their lunch money hoping that someone will be their friend, stick up for them, validate their existence. This is especially true at the academic level.

Interesting, too, that one of the other big societal institutions open to all comers, the churches, have largely dwindled.