In USA you have rights to format shift, so can libraries just 'rip' books in to an open format and lend those versions as long as they internally reserve a paper copy?
You can change formats, but they can't lend more than a single copy at any given time or they will be violating copyright (and making more copies of a book than they actually have).
The library could lend in a useful format though. I wasn't suggesting they lend tortuously.
Also if they limited loans to 1hr (or any time short of the regular loan), but allowed reservation ahead, then they could probably have many more people with the book available. The majority of the time I have a library book checked out it's on my shelf; doing the checkout virtually, when it's on my virtual shelf the library can loan it to someone else. Either I wait (if I want to access it and all copies are currently in use), or they take a payment from me to access the book immediately and they buy access to an extra copy.
Of course publishers would probably just increase the loan charge.
