DUMB RAP: L.A. has surpassed New York...

DUMB RAP: L.A. has surpassed New York as the top U.S. book market. But the Valley is still viewed as a place for tanning, not reading. If people are working on their tans, however, it must be with books in hand. “Just stand by our cash register for 20 minutes, and you’ll see more books on philosophy, history and the arts going out the door than Sidney Sheldon, Judith Krantz or Danielle Steel novels,” said Dave Dutton of Dutton’s Books in North Hollywood. “The Valley has been sorely maligned by people who would call it a cultural wasteland.”

ZEITGEIST: Reading choices reflect social conditions. It’s no surprise, then, that the West Valley regional library in Reseda has “seen a lot more demand for books on re-careering--obviously from people who have been put out of their jobs,” said librarian Chris Parsons. Patrons include Farsi and Russian speakers who “tell us they have the equivalent of a Ph.D. in Russia and are trying to position themselves in the job market here.”

HIGHLY CLASSIFIED: At the Sherman Oaks Newsstand on Van Nuys Boulevard, where Salvador Ramierez is browsing, above, computer mags are in demand. They may “start beating out Playboy pretty soon,” quipped manager Al Fernandez. Popular too are Sunday editions of out-of-town papers--fat with job and real estate ads. Who’s buying? Displaced workers and people hoping to leave before the next earthquake.

BORROWERS, TOO: Except for the downtown Central Library, the West Valley branch in Reseda is the busiest of the city’s 65 branches, checking out 400,000 to 500,000 books, videos and cassettes per year.

RESERVATIONS: The Sherman Oaks branch leads the system in “reserves”--the holds patrons put on checked-out books to borrow when they are returned. During a recent four-month period, the branch had 3,135 reserves. Topping the list: “Primary Colors,” a tale of the ’92 presidential primaries by an anonymous political insider.