That's not uncommon, unfortunately. Book publishers are trying their hardest to retain their business model, where supply and demand is a large factor. It won't last, middle men are going to go away as self-publishing services like Amazon take over. Just like iTunes is taking over music, Steam is taking over gaming, etc.

I would happily accept that limitation if O'Reilly made all its books available with the local library's eBook lending system. The local library system takes its limited funding and prioritizes variety over recency.

It's great if you're doing a research paper on something non-technical, but not so great if you want a current book on anything relating to computers. Even quantity-limited eBooks would solve that.