MyLibrarian: Building a Book Discovery App Around Librarian Expertise

Free app · $8.99 Premium · Private beta · Building

Michelle Zaffino is building MyLibrarian, a book discovery app built around librarian recommendations.

The idea started much earlier than the app itself.

What is MyLibrarian?

MyLibrarian is a book discovery app and community curated by librarians.

It uses a dataset called Librarian Brain, built from ranked librarian reviews. The app combines that dataset with a recommender algorithm and an AI digital librarian.

There is also a monthly book club, video book reviews from In the Stacks, guest librarians and a librarian ambassador program.

The goal is to give readers the experience of getting a recommendation from a real librarian instead of relying on algorithmic or paid recommendations.

Why I Built It

Michelle saw a problem with the way people discover books.

Readers are surrounded by algorithmic recommendations and paid placements. She wanted to bring librarian expertise online and make it available at scale.

She is a librarian herself.

In 2008, she started In the Stacks, which she describes as the first online video book review program hosted by a librarian.

The Librarian Brain dataset was first built in 2015.

MyLibrarian is the next step.

"A reference desk in an app, powered by Librarian Brain."

Building the Product

MyLibrarian is being built with an outside developer.

The product has been in private beta on TestFlight since 2025.

The current focus is launching the app while refining the search and recommendation experience.

In January 2026, the team also filed provisional patent paperwork.

Getting Customers

The first customers came through a mix of:

Website signup form

Industry conferences

Warm introductions

Emails

The first 100 customers came through the same channels.

The team also tried SEO, Reddit, X, Product Hunt, cold outreach, paid ads, communities and word of mouth.

They also built a Librarian Ambassador Program.

What Worked

Partner communities and expert consulting gigs helped the most.

But the acquisition channel that worked best was something much less immediate.

Michelle says it was the accumulated effect of adding social content over the last decade.

The existing audience and content operation gave MyLibrarian something to build on when the app came along.

What Didn't Work

Fundraising from a wireframe didn't work.

Michelle also lists hiring a "vibe coder" as her biggest mistake.

Would I Quit?

Not really.

The product solves a personal problem for Michelle.

She believes book discovery is broken, which makes it easier to keep going.

The Timeline

The submission doesn't provide specific dates for each milestone.

Instead, the journey goes back much further than the current app.

2008

Started In the Stacks, an online video book review program hosted by a librarian.

2015

Built the first version of the Librarian Brain dataset.

2025

MyLibrarian entered private beta on TestFlight.

January 2026

Filed provisional patent paperwork.

Now

Launching MyLibrarian while continuing to refine search and recommendations.

Looking Back

The biggest thing Michelle knows now is simple:

"It will take a lot longer than you think."

Would she do anything differently?

"Nothing, this is the journey."

The core idea has evolved from a librarian-led book community and content operation into a consumer book discovery app powered by a proprietary dataset built from librarian expertise and recommendations.

MyLibrarian is now moving from private beta toward launch.