Offsite access and other woes

Amidst all our discussions of over-priced databases, may I add a pet peeve: databases only available for onsite access.  The British Library has many lovely databases.  So does the New York Public Library. Etc. But  cardholders can't use any of them unless they're physically present, which is not hugely practical if one has to board an airplane (with or without a passport).  I imagine many users would cheerfully (or, at least, resignedly) pay a fee to use these resources from the relative comforts of home...

(And let's not get started on databases that refuse to even countenance the thought of licensing individuals.  Which would be just about all of them.  We have [some] money! We'd gladly give it to you!)

Meanwhile, the Ashgate situation (which has been garnering many signatures on the petition) does raise questions about the long-term prospects of commercial academic publishers whose pricing eliminates nearly all individual purchasers.  Cambridge, at least, has been making some efforts to sell its paperbacks to actual human beings with limited wallets, but surely, at some point, publishers will have to come to grips with the decline of the library as a primary market?