Where have all the libraries (and newspapers, telephone directories and etc.) gone?

The other day we had occasion to go to a large university apartment house. In the lobby there was a huge pile of telephone books all in plastic bags. Evidently, the local telephone company had delivered this huge pile, one for each apartment, for the use of the residents. There was just one catch, hardly an of the University students had bothered to pick up their directory. I commented on this to the person we were visiting and she said, "Oh, we don't need one, we just look everything up online anyway." What changes will take place if telephone books disappear? How will all these changes affect the way you and I do our genealogical research?
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