The success of this vast publication system is best indicated by the achievements of the science research that has been done over this period. Few would argue that the required information is failing to reach those who are able to contribute if they have the necessary information. Our concerns appear to be about other issues. For instance, scientific information is too expensive. The evidence either way is ambiguous, but on the whole there are no widespread stories of good work not getting done.
Science marches on.
When libraries pay high STM subscription prices, they privilege scientific information at the expense of that from other disciplines. I wrote a study in the late 1980s about the increases in serials prices, and there has since been little change in the level of these increases. Yet now, remarkably, the argument du jour is not that information should be less expensive, but that it should be free. As a sop to the existing system, advocates of the current models suggest that information can be priced for a while, but must be free soon afterwards. The model is attractive, but at the least slightly odd.