Read up on setuptools and the Python Package Index, aka the Cheeseshop. Setuptools hasn't yet been adopted as the one true packaging format by all library creators, but it gaining acceptance.
Ok, awesome. And that's the same story as RubyGems. I've noticed that Python peeps are pretty big on "show me the code" anyway, but I think a lot of untapped potential is lost by not having a dead-simple distribution mechanism, as good as Python libs tend to be overall.
That's one thing I do like about Ruby; it wasn't always this way, but RubyForge + GitHub (Oh, GitHub!) + RubyGems combine to make for a very fluid feedback mechanism and make good use of The Cloud.
The result is that new libs get announced, distributed, tested, and improved by rabid Rubyists rather... rapidly.
I'm actually quite puzzled by this.