I have amassed a decent Library collection over the years, and it was only recently I found out you could directly read books from there. Fool on me.
I was then under the assumption that because the books are in the library they wouldn't have the chance to break, but after discussing in in the SB and experimenting with a mass reading of common books, I see that they can.
This is where my suggestion comes in. Some libraries have rare book reading rooms. My thought is to have some kind of tab in the 'library' where you can move a book in there and then read it to a pet without it breaking.
To balance it out you could perhaps pay a fee to use the room, only have one book in there at a time, or only access it if you have a certain-sized library. Perhaps it could be it's own location entirely?
I know older books are expensive because they are often old exclusive event items that have the potential to disappear entirely, hence why I thought of having a charge associated with using the hypothetical room. It would hopefully stop them being so stagnant.
Just like real-world books, If the proper precautions are taken, surely we can extend the life of some of the literature?