It is true that a CD-ROM might hold almost all the papers that an individual mathematician will work with, but only if one can decide beforehand what those papers are going to be. Therefore I suspect that mathematicians and other scholars will depend on network connections more than on CD-ROMs for access to information, even though this technology will be useful for distribution of some data. CD-ROMs may even act as a distraction, with great effort devoted to trying to squeeze data onto them. Optical disks can be shipped by parcel post at low cost. However, it is desirable to have faster communication links.
Information transmission is a barrier right now.
However, communication speeds are increasing rapidly. Further, almost all universities in North America now have access to the Internet, which was not the case even a couple of years ago. The Internet backbone operates at 45 Mbs, and prototypes of much faster systems are already in operations. Scholars might not like to depend on systems that owe their existence to the demand for X-rated movies, but they will use them when they become available. There is concern in the scientific community that with the withdrawal of NSF support for the Internet, the electronic data highway will charge tolls that will be prohibitive for university researchers.