Joseph, I think it’s a shame you’re making up your mind based on one short overview, and I don’t find your analogy very compelling, but that won’t come as a surprise. Compared to solutions like Microsoft’s Surface, the challenge of rebuilding spaces for collaborative work, and the lack of these types of resources in libraries, this *is* the pencil.

When I stopped recently at a DART rail station and noticed an intriguing memorial to a group of people who once settled a small part of the city of Dallas (a tribute to the Lisbon Community) who happened to gather many, many hours, and days per week around their artesian well; I thought to myself, as a librarian for over 30+ years, what could I do to show the community of Dallas, just how rich their heritage truly is? What multi-media, or technological insight would I need to have to not only find a way to permanently explore the memorial markers which dot the DART (our transit system) stations, but begin the process of wider awareness for the history which these artistic pieces have contributed to Dallas? Too often, our fair city has taken many negative hits. But, now in our history, and sudden growth of population spurts, we need to be not just worried about our past. . .but, genuinely concerned for planning a positive future.
I think that the technology which you have described would really work very well for our public libraries. They need to embrace!!