Library of Congress and the Future of Archives

Took the short people to DC yesterday and we visited the Library of Congress. For a couple of centuries, it has been a central repository of research materials for scholars from all over the world. But with items being scanned, archives are electronically accessible. This means that expensive travel can be eliminated. Does it also mean that the archives themselves can be eliminated?

While there we saw one of the three complete Gutenberg Bibles in existence. The shorter of the short people asked if he could download a copy from Project Gutenberg and print it off so there would be four. We explained why it wouldn't be the same. Is THAT reason also a reason to maintain traval to research archives?