Public libraries are going on line faster than you can say "world wide web." The card catalogue is gone, replaced by an internet connection and CD-ROM. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, do we mourn the passing of an age, or embrace the new virtual library?

SEGMENT 1

Sallie Tisdale tells Steve Paulson why she values the silence of the old-fashioned library. Tisdale thinks we're all losing something important when we transform a public space for study and contemplation into a noisy computer activities center. She made her case in a Harper's magazine article called "Silence, Please." Also, Frank McCourt, who just won the Pulitzer Prize for his memoir "Angela's Ashes," tells Jim Fleming about the profound impact the children's library had on his childhood, and why he venerates New York's 42nd St. library.

SEGMENT 2:

Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone backed into book collecting through their love of reading and a search for cheap birthday presents. Now they've written a book: "Used and Rare -- Travels in the Book World." They tell Anne Strainchamps about some of the books they love and the rarified world of the rare book shop.

SEGMENT 3:

Nicholas Basbanes tells Steve Paulson about a couple of extreme bibliomanes -- people who committed several murders or thousands of burglaries to obtain books. Basbanes is the author of "A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes and the Eternal Passion for Books."

Distribution dates:

• week of 04/13/97 - hour 3
• week of 03/22/97 - hour 3