Before Goodreads and Amazon: How the Los Angeles Public Library Helped Readers Choose Books
Before the internet and online book reviews, readers in Los Angeles relied on a unique tool to discover their next great read: handwritten book review cards curated by the Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL).
According to NPR, this system, which operated from the 1920s to the 1980s, offered thousands of index cards featuring short synopses and personal reviews by library staff. These evaluations not only helped readers but also guided the library in selecting which books to stock.
A Glimpse Into the Pre-Internet Book Recommendation System
Imagine calling your library and asking about a book. Instead of Googling, a librarian would pull a physical card, read the staff’s review, and tell you whether the book was “wholesome,” “exciting,” or even “controversial.” These reviews also helped determine how many copies of a book to order—a process that shaped what readers could find on the shelves.
Longtime librarian Robert Anderson, who has worked at LAPL since 1980, recalls how valuable the system was. “If people called and said, ‘I’ve heard about this book and just want to know what it’s about,’ you could pull out the card and read it to them,” he told NPR.
The Review Process: A Snapshot in Time
Each card contained:
📚 A synopsis of the book
📚 A review from the librarian’s perspective
📚 A recommendation on whether to stock it (or how many copies to order)
📚 Predefined adjectives like “wholesome,” “pleasant,” or “exciting” to describe the book’s tone
One such review, written for Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway in 1925, included the adjectives “wholesome,” “pleasant,” and “interesting.” This characterization puzzled Anderson, who noted that Woolf’s novel, which explores themes of loneliness and mental health, may not typically be considered “wholesome” by today’s standards.
A Lost Literary Time Capsule
Though the book review card system was phased out, LAPL still preserves thousands of these handwritten reviews in its archives. Unfortunately, records of books that were rejected before the 1950s were discarded before Anderson began working at the library. “I think if I had been here, I would have found a box or something to put them in and held on to them,” he said.
Other major library systems, like San Francisco Public Library, have not kept similar records, though they have preserved other handwritten catalog systems from librarians of the past.
A Reflection of Cultural and Literary Trends
Today, these old review cards serve as a historical record—not just of books but of the literary and cultural attitudes of the time. They offer insight into how readers, librarians, and literary gatekeepers viewed different genres, authors, and subjects over nearly a century.
“Just in these short little pieces of writing, you can find a lot about the particular time when these reviews were written and about the people who wrote them,” Anderson said.
While modern readers now turn to Goodreads, TikTok’s #BookTok, and online reviews to discover their next book, LAPL’s historic review cards remind us that the joy of recommending books has always been an essential part of literary culture.