Great Library of Greyhawk

The Great Library of Greyhawk boasts one of the finest and most complete repositories of books and scrolls in the Flanaess, rivaled only by the Royal Annals of Rel Mord and Enstad's deeply isolationist Nethalion Archive. Its impressive facade, with columns, stairs. and statuary masks the aging bulk of an old Oeridian fort which seemed the perfect spot for the collection in Zagyg's day, but is now a dusty, drafty, crumbling mess thanks to the inattention of several previous curators. The library contains books, scrolls, and papers on countless subjects, loosely organized into topics corresponding to the building's six wings (History. Geography, Artistic Studies, Poetry and Literature, Science and Engineering, and everything else, optimistically titled "General").
Each wing is essentially one huge room holding thousands of books arranged in shelves from floor to ceiling. Rickety ladders are situated throughout each room to help patrons access the higher stacks. Tables and chairs stand at the center of each wing, and one or more assistant librarians are usually on hand to help decode the institution's notoriously puzzling coding system and enforce a rigorous code of silence. When not attending to the needs of patrons, these scholars work on volumes of their own, copies of which are added to the collection upon their completion.
The Great Library is open every day from dawn to dusk. Armor and weapons are strictly banned, and anyone caught defacing library property suffers a mandatory term of service in one of the city's more toilsome work-gangs. Admission is free, though "Contributing Members" who donate at least 100 gp annually are allowed to take home up to three books at a time for one week. Others must conduct their research on premises.
A well-respected sage known as Iquander [human male Wizard] currently manages the affairs of the Great Library as its chief administrator: Iquander keeps quarters in a warren of small rooms below the library, but most often can be found manning an impressive desk on a large raised marble platform just inside the building's main entrance. Iquander came to Greyhawk from the Duchy of Urnst a few years ago, on the trail of some elusive bit of arcane lore on behalf of the Society of Sages and Scholars of Nellix Town. He fell in love with Greyhawk's collection, and hasn't left since.

Type

Library