Its strongest defence lies in its community role, the part it plays in fostering a sense of locality. Often it is the only place where people can go, without money, and meet others. It is the natural place to go for information and, for children, it has a vital role in teaching citizenship. These are all important functions, worthy of nurturing, and ones that the Internet can never perform. This library needs to be flexible, to interact with its community and to know the interests of those it serves.
Survival requires ingenuity, adaptability, collaboration, and the ability to exploit local skills.
One library's solution may not suit another. For one, collaboration with schools or youth organisations may be appropriate, while another may find strong allies among mothers at home or professional child-minders. There can be no guarantee of survival, but the best chances are with those libraries that go out of their way to make themselves relevant to their own local communities.