What's insane about an alignment of incentives? Drone resources were available. Physical books were going unused, while electronic copies are not exactly free. Those involved get a pat on the back via publicity. Readers get to read more. Learners get to experience a new phenomenon.
Yep. You know the library has to pay extra for electronic texts, right? For example, when a patron checks out an item from Hoopla, the library is charged from $1 to $3 (or so... prices may have changed) for that transaction. This affects the number of check-outs the library grants patrons for a given month. I've seen ours vary from 3-10. And many popular titles are not available at any time.
Another reason why it makes sense to leverage the physical books.