The way that scholars access documents will be forever changed by the digital library revolution. With documents accessible to anyone, from anywhere on the planet much of the costs of scholarship will dwindle (i.e travel). Virtual communities will (have) appeared to support these libraries as they emerge and an era of instantaneous access will (theoretically) replace the time spent digging through musty archives.
The digital revolution is already making a big impact on the natural sciences, and will soon overcome the resistance of humanities scholars as well. As older professors retire, younger, more technologically adept professors will be using digital libraries to revolutionize their scholarhsip.