Bringing hidden dusty sound archives back into the pubic domain where they belong is a noble ideal. Sadly the Library of Congress keeps a lot out of the public domain. And its also a pity that the British Library Sound Archive doesn't do likewise.

Even in the folk collection at the BL there are archives of recordings of say traditional performers that only members of recognised academia are allowed to access. Some of the collectors contribute to threads here.

Why should such media be restricted access to academics only?