Genealogy buffs - ?? about ancestry.com

For you genealogy buffs out there, do you have any insights into the offerings of ANCESTRY.COM?

Specifically, I have seen some of the CD’s they sell with US Census data and they are very easy to use with “wild card” searches. I have used the free online version at my local library and it does provide nearly the same horsepower for searching. The tool set just is not there.

Are there any online services that my library might consider upgrading to that have powerful search tools?

Thanks!

Jim