This brings an interesting anecdote from when I suddenly had this question of how my seniors working in the 80s and 90s in a small Indian lab managed to get the literature they want (when their small lab was still one of the most advanced institutions in the state). My senior said they’d pretty much have to write up a literature request letter, attach a cheque and mail it to the main library in New Delhi, and they would typically hear back from them after a month or two either with a copy of the article or saying they can’t get it (roughly half the time). They still did good research, arguably even better than what crap gets spewed out now!
Just like Wikipedia and the internet didn’t change everyone’s ability to know things in any meaningful way (actually it made it worse), free access to arbitrary literature was not exactly the limiting step in anyone’s research career in my experience. It’s definitely annoying but once you’re up to speed in a field you are typically happy with just the abstract and if it’s an important enough paper you find a way to get it one way or another. Especially with a good supportive library and ILL system it’s typically a snap.
Just like Wikipedia and the internet didn’t change everyone’s ability to know things in any meaningful way (actually it made it worse), free access to arbitrary literature was not exactly the limiting step in anyone’s research career in my experience. It’s definitely annoying but once you’re up to speed in a field you are typically happy with just the abstract and if it’s an important enough paper you find a way to get it one way or another. Especially with a good supportive library and ILL system it’s typically a snap.