Doomed Journals and More — Annoyed Librarian

"Academic libraries usually can’t rely on trendy services like reversing opioid overdoses to draw in patrons, but they do at least provide access to subscription journals.

If people can get all the journal articles they want for free either from Sci-Hub or through open access journals, why would anyone need academic libraries anymore?

Academic libraries have been struggling for years to prove their worth. Hopefully for the academic librarians out there, if this prediction is accurate that worth will be more than providing access to journal articles.

Libraries have been trying for years to achieve the simplicity of access that Google seems to provide, often against the designs of publishers. The game might be over. Publishers lose. Libraries lose. Researchers win, for now. Looks like information really might want to be free after all."