The Opening of the Library

[RoverStorm 3]

(On one of the last pages of the Elysium Post, in the bottom half section, rests the following article)

Elysium Library Open At Last!

It has been many years since work began on the library here in Elysium.  After much tribulation, I, the Chancellor of Education in Elysium, am quietly announcing to the public it is open.  I do not wish to get your hopes up, though.  This is a start, not the end.  We have a modest collection consisting almost exclusively of generous donations from around the lands, which remains unsorted and many books are the only copy we have, and in too poor a condition to make fast copies of.  There are some empty spaces, and you will see rennovations in the years to come.  Yet we have books on the shelves and furniture collecting dust.  So we might as well be open so what books are ready can be read and what furniture we have can be used.  In the coming months our next step is to slowly put more and more of our collection on shelves, and perhaps organize it further.  At the moment, too many genres would be in an entire section all to their own, while many books are on their last legs and too risky to put on shelves.

 

With this, I shall detail two things.  What the Library does, and what you can do to participate.

 

First, we obvious offer a place to learn.  Anyone is free to visit the ground floor and the two floors above it as long as the city is not in lockdown.  Pardon the construction supplies.  There is books on the shelves, furniture to relax at, and carpets or classrooms for public discussions.  In the future, classrooms may be reserved at various times for classes, but more on that later in this article.  The Restricted Floor may be visited at the permission of any member of the Department of Education.  The primary purpose is to give a more peaceful and secluded floor to study and discuss, away from the noisy classrooms and the lovely sound of Elysium's town square flowing in through the open windows.  We also reserve authority to deny access to known troublemakers or those who disturb other patrons of the Library.  Other floors exist primarily for Department of Education Staff, and may or may not be open to the public in the future after rennovations.

 

Second, we offer books to read.  While our book count is modest at the moment, I have high aspirations to swell our collection.  Our collection so far has been almost entirely from generous donations, as mentioned above.  However, while a wonderful start, we are looking at ways to expand.  In the future, I hope to host competitions to write books for the Library.  Many of my staff are also enthusiastic about running a bookstore.  Rest assured, the existance of a bookstore will not prevent you from reading a book in our collection for free.  This is more an idea to help secure funds for the Library.

 

Third, as a second business, we intend to restore books which are in disrepair.  Many books in our collection are in poor condition.  We cannot use the usual fast copy method prefered by most.  So my solution is to manually copy the book, letter for letter, into a fresh one.  This is time consuming, and we have much more pressing matters, but this will one day become a task we can offer to the public.  We will be happy to restore a book free of charge if we are allowed to keep the original book while you take home a still good condition copy.  Otherwise, for a fee, we will keep the copy and return the original book to you.  We cannot offer this at the moment since we still have sorting to do with our own collection, but it is a future mission.

 

Fourth, we intend to offer classes, to fullfill our duty as both the Library and University of Elysium.  We currently do not have classes ready or teachers to teach, so for now just the Library portion is open, but among our next steps is to begin teaching.

 

 

So how can you participate?

First, membership currently is free and voluntary.  We only ask you to be active.  Active I define here in that you interact in some way with us once a year (IRL week) and you can be contacted within 24 hours.  Membership is also granted in person by a Ministry of Education staff, and we reserve the right to revoke it for any reason.  All membership revocation also may be appealed to the Master of Education/Chancellor of Education, currently me.

 

Beyond this, we will also find it incredibly helpful if you could fill out the survey on the back of this sheet.

Spoiler

(RP survey: https://forms.gle/fb7ior9X28uWBcKa9)

(OOC survey: https://forms.gle/V39oPo7AvbiDjP1u8)

(OOC note: Filling out both would be very helpful to us)

 

I also plan to host events.  I need to work out details with my staff on this topic, which is to say I haven't brought up the topic with them yet, so more to come at later dates.

 

We also always need more donations.  We accept books, both ones that are written and ones that are blank and are components of bookshelves.  Feathers also are helpful for obvious reasons.  Beyond this, we have a changing list of resources that would be helpful.  Soon we will have a notice board at the entrance to the Library, where you can find things that we currently need as well as important announcements at-a-glance.

 

Finally, for the most commited, we could use more staff.  We have few Librarians, and just one individual interested in being a Professor.  We have work in both fields.  Be warned, the work is tedious.  We need people to help our current staff sort the collection, update the ledger, copy books that are in disrepair manually, and generally help out visitors.  We need professors to teach subjects.  His Highness, Duke Eugeo de Astrea, is considering actually paying anyone fully trained in alchemy to teach, but we also need mundane teachers.  Many in Elysium are interested in occupational training, and some have expressed interest in basic education such as literacy and arithmetic.

 

I have reached the end of my alloted space.  You can find me or my staff at the Elysium Library, located in the town square behind the clinic.  Thank you for reading this article.  My name is Lyra Fanalla.

 

Spoiler

(OOC note: I would like to thank the many volunteers on this project so far.  I am not an easy person to work with, even when I'm not busy with "IRL" matters.

Mayaran/Moa, for doing much of the tedious work spearheading the collection ledger, sorting the books, and putting up with me.  After considering everything, I have decided that Mayaran shall be the first Master Librarian.

Lapide, a new player who has been very enthusiastic in attempting to do anything to get the books we needed for this opening,

Amayo, for the excellent effort on reviewing and building the Restricted floor,

twicringe, teawthsunny, Sussy, bubbles, Almost, and Lle for all offering to helping out as Librarians,

_Blitz, a new player who as of writing this is one of, if not the only one, who has asked to become a Professor,

To everyone who's name has changed or have fallen off this ride long ago and I can't identify anymore,

To the MANY people who have donated to the Library so far,

and finally to Suicidium, who needs no introduction)

 

Edited December 18, 2021 by RoverStorm