I agree curation is value-add. A good librarian is probably as good as it gets.
Also, the internets are filled with curated lists. Book lists have come up here on HN a number of times [1][2][3], even Sci-fi specific[4].
But I get it, push button services are very appealing, and can save a lot of time. Just click subscribe and get a constant supply of books you'll love at a reasonable price. It's a business model that can work surprising well[5].
In that case, something that works with your local public library's catalog might be just the thing (and indeed something I've wanted for a while). You set up a reading list and it orders/puts on hold whatever books or movies you want one after another. You return one, the next one is ready to go. If the library doesn't have it, it will request an Inter-Library Loan for you.
Unfortunately my local public library doesn't expose any sort of API to allow this sort of thing. Only way to do it seems to be by writing a screen scraper.
I think the path to take would be to add this feature into the library CMS systems out there. Sell it to libraries as an add-on plugin as a way to drive engagement with the library.
The problem with that is there is a large variety of CMSes out there. It may not be cost-effective to write plugins for every CMS. Some of them may not not have documented plugin APIs or may not have the ability to have plugins at all. Libraries may not necessarily have the budget to buy plugins or, depending on their CMS licensing agreement, might not be allowed to install 3rd party plugins.
It might still be a cool little system to build though. I might try pitching it as a new (volunteer) project to my local library and see what they say.
That's an interesting idea. Some quick googling and I found there seem to be a number of CMS systems for libraries, some open source, some vendor/closed. That got me thinking that another angle on this would be to write the curator part (e.g. some ML model trained on reader preferences), and provide that as a SaaS to end-users. But I see that something similar already exists[1]... of course.
Also, the internets are filled with curated lists. Book lists have come up here on HN a number of times [1][2][3], even Sci-fi specific[4].
But I get it, push button services are very appealing, and can save a lot of time. Just click subscribe and get a constant supply of books you'll love at a reasonable price. It's a business model that can work surprising well[5].
1 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13117521
2 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11229312
3 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12556160
4 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9056319
5 - https://www.dollarshaveclub.com/