So they believe in access. The public generally wants more information, but there are still big problems with payment. Under Mrs. Thatcher the government in Britain tried to introduce charging for use of public libraries. There was a huge reaction against that, and the government dropped that proposal. Public libraries are now in difficult position, where people want more and more from them, but they are not allowed to charge money in the way that our government normally would expect them to in order to build their collections and resources.
University libraries are also under great financial pressure.
Much of the debate there is on the issue of copyright. Some universities think that if they take over the ownership of copyright, they will be able to avoid having to pay large sums to journal publishers. Academics want to have large collections. University librarians do not like to challenge this, because the academics are the ones that decide the policy in the university. Only a few vice-chancellors in universities are actually receptive to this kind of message.