Comments on "The Search"

John Battelle writes of "How Google and its rivals rewrote the rules of business and transformed our culture" in The Search.
A couple of things struck me:
I had never thought about the concept of search engine (you find something and click away) vs. portal (you find something and stay on the site.) I wondered how this relates to changes in library as repository of materials (you find and check out or copy) vs. library as place (you study, meet with groups, as well as do research, write your paper, etc.) Which are we trying to be and is it the right choice for today?
I also liked the concept of search being comprised of two elements, recovery and discovery. Are librarians designing web sites for recovery (I know a good web site, database, resource to suggest and have "saved" the link for you in a list, pathfinder, guide, etc.) and patrons looking to use it for discovery (I need info on my subject, let me start looking and find it)? Should we decide what it would look like if we built it from the other perspective?