Definitely. I think books are by far the most effective way of giving people a real education. There's nothing like a good collection of books for teaching you knowledge, broadening your worldview and making you a thinking citizen.
Books are more available now than they ever were before - just think Project Gutenberg. Unfortunately, we lack the general culture of serious reading that would be needed to fully make use of that potential.
I think we as a society could really use it.