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Social knowledge and discussion benefit us all.
The rationale for these monopolies was to reward authors and publishers for contributing to knowledge and discussion, tolerating the harms of monopolies and their enforcement in return for the benefits of more writing, wider publication, and eventually additions to the public domain. If and when important works aren't available, then the system isn't working as it's supposed to. So yes the absence or the excessive costs of some reference books are a relevant critique. Of course we have to expect some gaps. But with digital distribution there don't have to be as many gaps as before.
The rationale was not that these monopolies granted a right to these monopolies.
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