I empathize with the author. The root of the problem can be interpreted as the fact that a well maintained production-ready library is almost an engulfing charity service for the author. Ironically, economically, the optimal solution is for the masses benefitting from the library to return some of that benefit (perhaps in monetary form) to the author. But culturally this is not what free-software is about...
That's the irony and inefficiency of open-source software.
That's the irony and inefficiency of open-source software.