Preservation is, unfortunately, not access for not only the vast majority of US citizens, but of people worldwide locked out of the proprietary document system.
Even such half-aborted systems such as Hathi Trust permit downloads only by the page, even from out-of-copyright works, which is absolutely infuriating. Full access to the Hathi archives (that is, in-copyright works, which cannot otherwise be viewed at all) is restricted to college libraries only, not public libraries generally.
The Internet Archive, LibGen, Z-Library, Sci-Hub, Anna's Archive, and other similar efforts are really the only viable means of access to much of the world's published information, whether inside, outside, or straddling extant copyright law. Which of course was written and lobbied for by existing copyright holders.
I'd much rather we burnt down that law than our true libraries.
As to Anna's Archive and the question of preservation vs. access: AFAIU the full archive is already available and stored in multiple fully-independent copies. As such it will all but assuredly survive even extreme legal attacks, let alone other threats. Access to those works is what torrent seeding provides, and as a means of making the archive available and useful is key to its function and service, but (probably) not its survival.
Even such half-aborted systems such as Hathi Trust permit downloads only by the page, even from out-of-copyright works, which is absolutely infuriating. Full access to the Hathi archives (that is, in-copyright works, which cannot otherwise be viewed at all) is restricted to college libraries only, not public libraries generally.
The Internet Archive, LibGen, Z-Library, Sci-Hub, Anna's Archive, and other similar efforts are really the only viable means of access to much of the world's published information, whether inside, outside, or straddling extant copyright law. Which of course was written and lobbied for by existing copyright holders.
I'd much rather we burnt down that law than our true libraries.
As to Anna's Archive and the question of preservation vs. access: AFAIU the full archive is already available and stored in multiple fully-independent copies. As such it will all but assuredly survive even extreme legal attacks, let alone other threats. Access to those works is what torrent seeding provides, and as a means of making the archive available and useful is key to its function and service, but (probably) not its survival.