It received strongly favorable reviews and became a New York Times Best Seller.

When Orlean's son had a school assignment to interview a city employee, he chose a librarian and together they visited the Studio City branch of the Los Angeles Public Library system which reignited her own childhood passion for libraries.

The Library Book received strongly favorable reviews and was selected as a "PW Pick" by Publishers Weekly.

[4] Reviewing the book for The New York Times, Michael Lewis wrote, "Susan Orlean has once again found rich material where no one else has bothered to look for it…Once again, she's demonstrated that the feelings of a writer, if that writer is sufficiently talented and her feelings sufficiently strong, can supply her own drama.

[6] As of 2019, Orlean is slated to collaborate with James Ponsoldt to write and executive-produce an adaption for television.