As a scholar, I use libraries to find and access materials. I think that is the traditional function?

If I want to access a book (or frankly anything else), chances are I can do so in minutes on the Internet archive — I can’t say the same for my university library. Or the library of Congress.

The internet archive has more materials (and more kinds of materials) and serves more than 10x the number of people (digitally).

I recognize that a community library and the LOC have different purposes from the IA. But the scale is huge — and it is extremely useful in scholarship.

Also: did you used to work there? You know a lot about it, but maybe had a bad experience?