Ideally all positive change would happen legislatively. Unfortunately that doesn't seem to be the reality we live in. I've argued in comments on other posts that some laws require visible lawbreaking before legislation changes. In that reality, it's hard to talk about working within the system of existing rules because the rules were placed by unmatchable lobbying. Since those on the other side of the debate lack the capital to overpower those who control the media (control the media and you control the message), some other way is required to get visibility and push for laws to change.
I'm definitely in favor of shorter lengths. Not so much renewal though as it tends to favor big publishers and media companies who are far less likely to forget to renew than some individual or small company is. (That's been one of the big pushbacks against a lot of orphan works proposals. In that case I don't really agree with the content creators but I do get the argument.)
That is a right authors have been granted only in order to encourage the creation of more works so any violation of that "right" should be judged on how it impacts that goal. It also is not really a right given to authors but rather rights taken away from everyone else.
I am an author, but I am also an advocate for copyright reform. I would like to see copyright duration changed to something more sensible, such as its pre-1976 length (28 years + optional 28 year renewal). Yet as much as I support copyright reform, I also think it has to be done through legislation, not through the IA deciding the publishers have too much power and thumbing their nose at copyright law.
Regarding your assertion, "There was no taking from authors." One thing that I see widespread confusion about, even among educated people, is what gets taken away from authors when copyright is violated. Yes, loss of potential sales is one thing that affects authors when copyright is violated. But beyond that, what actually gets taken away is the right itself. Copyright gives authors the exclusive authority, for a limited time, to publish and reproduce their creative works. If the IA violates copyright, then even if it doesn't take away sales, it still takes away the right itself. It's important to recognize that the intellectual property right has value in itself, outside of how sales are affected.
I am all for humanitarian organizations helping people during a pandemic. But IA should do so by lending out things it owns and has a right to lend, rather than lending out things it doesn't own and doesn't have a right to lend.