If that really is the only barrier to using this then I'm sure a simple email to the sole copyright holder asking for an MIT/BSD/etc license to the code would s

If that really is the only barrier to using this then I'm sure a simple email to the sole copyright holder asking for an MIT/BSD/etc license to the code would solve your problem. The author put together what looks like a nice library, let's not make an issue out of something so trivial to solve.