Custom per-package options passed down via library() ?

I want to load an in-house library 'differently' in a particular context and,
to achieve this, would like to govern the behaviour of its .onLoad()
function.

In a related context, Frank Harrell and I have been wondering on and off
about how to tell Hmisc to be less verbose in certain situations.  He
achieves this by placing information in a custom field in options(). 
I could do the same in my case -- but am wondering if there is a better way.
Is there?

Any hints welcome!

Regards, Dirk

Hell, there are no rules here - we're trying to accomplish something. 
                                                  -- Thomas A. Edison