Even as a freelance person it's not a huge problem for me. It can be annoying, but if I'm doing real work rather than just looking up one article on a whim, it's not a showstopper. Mostly I just use the local university library. Non-affiliates can't check out books, but anyone can walk in and get on the wifi. And once you're on their wifi, you get whatever database access they've negotiated for their IP range. Not every university library allows this, but quite a lot do.
