Although at least in the local library that I'm familiar with, wear is nowhere near as severe as what e-book lending licenses might suggest. From a quick search in the US those often seem restricted to two years or twenty-six lends. The former condition seems totally ridiculous (my library has tons of books older than two years) and even the latter seems questionable – from back when they used to stamp the return dates into the books [1], quite a few books had managed 26 lendings without falling apart yet.

[1] My favourite library branch in my town is, while associated with the city library system, partly volunteer-run and was consequently the last to computerise its lending system, and therefore kept on using the classic system until I think somewhere around 2010 or so, whereas the rest of the city library had already switched in the 90s.

> from back when they used to stamp the return dates into the books [1], quite a few books had managed 26 lendings without falling apart yet.

I remember seeing books that had been lent easily over 100 times.

Not to mention a book can be rebound by a library if it's purchase price is high.

Spouse of a former librarian here. Books are circulated on average 25-30 times before they need to be replaced or removed due to wear.

While I understand the plight of publishers, I also think digital rights favor them too much, atm.