Public libraries

How incredible are public libraries? They likely could not have been established in today's America and yet they keep providing us with free books, movies, lectures, workshops, etc etc etc. NYPL has an interlibrary loan service, which means I can pick up any book I want 3 blocks from my apartment. I can sit in a library and work for hours without having to buy a $6 coffee. I could wax rhapsodic for paragraphs...