>Thing is, Ingram, B&T, and BWI were supposed to ship early. If they didn't there'd be no way libraries could process their books and have them ready for their patrons by midnight on Saturday.

Yup. I'm not sure where exactly my father's library got the book from, but they've had their copies for _weeks_ for exactly the reason you state. (I figured they'd get them early, but I was surprised by how early.)

(My father sent an email to the entire staff telling them not to bug the tech services folks about it. What the tech services folks did once they had the book in hand, I do not know.)