Hey Jos I get what you are saying.
Basically I view the library as a black hole. The items ive put in I don't ever expect, or want, to take back. If someone rips, or snatches it... What happens happens... I have donated rather than lended these items so that they are now the property of laby, rather than me.
For HC in particular I think it's important that everything in the library truly is LABY property, rather than loans from individuals. If someone rips or steals there are no idividuals to reimburse or try to replace gear for, and the loss is sustained by the guild as a whole, which can better handle the economical hardship than an individual.
Now, I do think it may be a good idea to assign some safe practice guidelines to players using guild property. Whistle only for solo, a minimum vitality stat requirement, maybe even assigning a mentor to every player who checks out gear. Just because the loss CAN be withstood by the guild as a whole doesn't mean we can't mitigate some of the risk and make sure players are being safe with it.
All that said... i believe that the only way this library could later be labeled a failure is if the gear goes unused.