I think I already mentioned here my interest towards independent researchers or non-institutional researchers (here or here). When it comes about this very topic, appears the needs for resources, as described by rashmi:

in recent years, the internet has enabled the rise of a new type of internet enabled, independent researcher. I first realized this during my last year at Berkeley - that I could now do the same research on my own. Between subscriptions to a few academic journals, Google and a few trips to Berkeley/Stanford library, I can have access to everything I had while at Brown University or UC Berkeley. I would probably not have left the safe cocoon of academia if not for this realization.