Mario Rups thinks this topic is of interest to the whole list -- so
here is my answer to his query.
 
The access was to pacs -- public-access-catalog-systems -- but the
expressed worry had been that patrons would find that their local
libraries did -not- have the material they were looking for, and would
therefore not come into the physical place.
 
It is a bit ironic: the issue was raised because some libraries
had put their catalogs online in the hopes that the number (or, rather,
the density)  of
bodies in the physical place would decrease, thereby saving the
expense of otherwise necessary physical-plant expansion.  And the
salaries of additional staff to serve them.
 
At the present time, it seems to me that musea are in as little
danger from online access as they are from those handsomely printed
books that highlight the collections in glorious color and faithful
detail.
 
We've had the discussion about the impact of *the real thing*.
The computer screen cannot reproduce the scale of most originals,
even if all other qualities could somehow be represented.
 
--bayla