Grand Library

The Grand Library of Aatem Nal at Serasarda, more commonly called the Grand Library, is the single largest library, school, and educational center in the entire Centralized Mountain States of Snefaldia. Located in Serasarda, it was begun in 1255, to serve as the center of the Aatem Nal faith, as well as the main repository of knowledge, artifacts, art, and other culturally significant materials for the entire country. The Library complex also hosts the University of Snefaldia, run by Aatem Nal.

Administration

The Grand Library functions like other Aatem Nal institutions, in that it is maintained and administered by the adherents of that order and is headed by a Librarian. However, being the central institution of the faith, the Librarian of the Grand Library has different duties and honors accorded to him. The title of Grand Librarian is reserved for the head of the Grand Library, and is considered the ultimate honor of the Bibliothecan Hierarchy.

A Grand Librarian is chosen by the currently serving Librarian, and designated as the heir. Upon the death, retirement, or removal of the previous Grand Librarian the designee becomes the head of the Library, with all the attendant duties.

Thousands of adherents maintain the various parts of the Library, with the chain of command rising until it reaches the Grand Librarian, and by extension the Tuhran Bel.

The current Grand Librarian is Nan-kudurri-Bel.

Structure

The Library is not solely a library. It is more properly a library, a museum, an art gallery, a repository, an archive, an school, a college, and a church. The Library houses thousands of books, magazines, scrolls, parchments, inscriptions, newspapers, and recently digital media, as well as priceless works of art, statues, photographs, and varying other media. In short, the Grand Library is a repository of almost all kinds of media.

Normal citizens may use the Library for free, but only Aatem Nal adherents and members of the Tuhran Bel (to some degree) have total and unfettered access to the Library. There are secret vaults and hidden repositories that most don't even know exist hidden beneath the library, and some collections are off-limits for a variety of reasons.

Architecture

The Library is considered a triumph of architecture. The Grand Library Complex is the size of a small town, constructed largely out of stone, wood, and newer materials, with an architectural range spanning six centuries. Soaring domes, carved walls, inlaid floors, and sweeping staircases are complemented by stacks upon stacks of books, halls and halls of statues and exhibits, and the occasional Endiri shrine.

In almost constant construction since work began, the Library has been expanding for 700 years, with each Grand Librarian overseeing significant additions to the buildings. Gardens and reading rooms are a constant addition, and in 1665 a small lake was added inside one of the larger courtyards.

Several cafes, restaurants, and shops operate inside the Library, providing refreshments and a chance to relax in the beautiful areas inside the Library. The sounds of Serasarda disappear inside the cavernous stone hallways, and the common person can hear Aatem Nal members hotly debating or performing rituals in alcoves or lounge areas.

Almost all hallways, rooms, and archives are named for an important or contributing person, and some of the most breathtaking rooms of the building are associated with the most important people of Aatem Nal and Snefaldia history.

Organization & Layout

The Library complex is immense, and is easily able to fit a million people within its environs, above and below ground. The Library was built atop a massive system of caves and tunnels that extends deep beneath the city- 90% of which are off-limits to the public, ostensibly for safety purposes.

There are nine major wings of the complex, and each wing is subdivided into nine collections. These wings and collections are organized according to the system of classification used in all Aatem Nal institutions- 9 bodies of knowledge, divided 9 times. In the Grand Library, these collections are often divided nine times again, but this is not universal. Some collections only have one or two lesser divisions. Wings are divided by information, and classifications are further divisions pertaining to that information. These wings, unlike other libraries, are not simply places or reference or study; but repositories of all given information on a subject, even if that information is outdated, debunked, untranslated, or rare, with multiple editions, printings, and copies of a publication being maintained.

Staffing

Each wing has its own circulation desk and maintenance system, which is headed by a Wing Prefect, of which there are 9. Each collection is administered by a Curator, who may then be responsible for a staff handling the various subdivisions if they exist. Therefore, the staffing for the wings, collections, and full divisions, would be a basic 729 officials - 1 Grand Librarian, 9 Prefect, 81 Curators, and a maximum 638 lesser administrators. This would not include those responsible for circulation, maintenance, repair, additions, and patron assistance.

Theoretically each Prefect has only the staff of his nine Curators, but because of the large workload and the workload of the Curators, the Prefect usually has an additional staff of some five or six people. The Curator usually maintains a staff of three or four, and lesser administrators have two or three officials working with them. One can easily see the massive number of employees needed to maintain and run the Library.

While in other countries such high staffs would be unnecessary, it is often the case that extra Arsathaes are assigned to work and help in the running of the library. Because of the pervasive influence of Aatem Nal, reading and learning is considered very gratifying and luxurious- on any given day, hundreds of people will be perusing the stacks or doing research, and Library employees are almost constantly engaged in the copying, replacing, and loaning of Library materials.