Inside Higher Education notes that students who needed more library time and facilities than Cal State/LA provided simply started their own makeshift alternative.
OK — now think with me. What if a number of friends/professional colleagues realised that they didn’t all need their own copies of expensive monographs, so that Dr. Sally says “I’m buying AKMA’s latest book,” and Dr. Renaldo says, “OK, I’ll skip AKMA and buy Ward Blanton’s latest,” and so on? They would need a place to keep their shared books, and robust social constraints against abusing the system; but unless someone was egregiously cheating (taking books away, never buying any) everyone benefits to some extent, even if they buy more than their neighbour (they still have access to a greater pool of books than they would have before).
Now, let’s get really radical. What if they’re digital books?