After years of hard work and many unforseen setbacks, construction
workers have finished building the Great Libraries of the Basin! After
some, small finishing touches, they should be open to the public soon.

What this means is that city and communes need to appoint a Librarian.
The Librarian is new ministry position, which is more important than
might appear at first glance. As well as taking care of administrative
duties, such as issuing library cards, the Librarian publishes books
among the Great Library system, increasing the cultural power of your
city or commune. Further, they may critique the works of rival cities
and communes, which could either decrease their power or backfire and
decrease the power of your own city or commune. Thus, the success of the
culture of your city or commune often rests upon the shoulders of the
Librarian.

Culture is a new system which generates power for cities and communes.
AS OF RIGHT NOW, ALL POWER GENERATED BY VILLAGES IS HALVED. Cultural
power rests on two factors:

1) Great Libraries--There are several categories where Great Libraries
may generate power which you can look up in the help files. As of right
now, no libraries produce power and probably won't until next year when
libraries begin to publish books.

2) Cultural Activity--This score is calculated by the aggregate of the
novice and member scores of guilds within a particular commune or city.
Novice scores count for TWICE the weight of member scores. This should
underscore the importance of recruiting novices and making them feel
welcome within cities and communes. Guild Administers, Secretaries and
Undersecretaries should take note, as well as Ambassadors.

Although you may see mention in the help files of contests for published
books (Prestige Books), that is not implemented at this time.

Regarding publishing books, there are two categories how libraries
maintain books:

Archived Books: Anyone with access to that library can checkout this
book. The book's author or editor will always be able to checkout the
original copy of the book. Archived books have no impact upon the
cultural standing of the library.

Published Books: The Librarian may publish an archived book within his
or her library. For the next year, rival Librarians can critique the
published book. If the critique is found valid by a group of divine
scholars, the library's credibility will drop. If the critqiue is found
invalid, the crediblity of those libraries who criticised the book will
be penalized. Publishing books will create copies within all Great
Libraries (Librarians who don't like a published work or don't think it
suitable for the public can restrict it).

Published books are permanent unless the author (or editor) revises the
book (in which case it goes through the critique process again). In any
event, before books are published, it would be wise to make sure you and
the author complete understands this process.

As of right now, only Great Libraries are available for storing books.
Until we get this system ironed out, we won't be implementing manse
libraries or libraries for other organizations (i.e., guilds and
orders).

See HELP CULTURE, GREATLIBARIES, LIBRARIAN, PUBLISHING

Penned by my hand on the 10th of Dvarsh, in the year 127 CE.