I have to say that here in Oz, people are generally very well-behaved in libraries and archives. Yes, there are crowds of people doing family history, but they are usually working quietly at film machines or fiche readers. And librarians are invariably extremely helpful and courteous, providing an excellent (and free!) service, even when under pressure as they often are. They will often do several hours of free research if you live some distance away and can't get in very often. I've had this invaluable help from my Queensland State Library several times, but even though I don't live in New South Wales, the Mitchell Library in Sydney has also sent me documents, free - didn't even pay for the photocopying! Our archives have reinvented themselves as user-friendly places for researchers - they could have more staff on duty to help, but apart from that they are good places to go and search.
So yes, I do think that a lot of the online resources have been over-commercialised, but there are real treasures to be found in libraries and archives, free or low cost. Libraries often have some of the commercial resources, available within the library or online. Our National Library was recently amazed by the large and positive response it got to an online survey of users of its catalogue. To me, this just reflects the excellent service they offer!

MarieC