Library tome

Nothing beats a good book. Except two good books.

A library tome is an arcane device that fits an entire library within the covers of a single book. 'A tome' is actually a set of two books: the tome itself and the catalogue.

Useage

As the name suggests, the catalogue tells the user what books are available to read in the tome. In larger libraries, or more expensive tomes, the catalogue itself is a tome, with a list of available titles generated by a request using the universal decimal system.
To use a tome, the borrower writes the title of the book on the frontispiece of the tome, then closes and reopens it. Upon reopening, the tome is filled with the contents of the borrowed book.

Limitations

In the event that the length of the book exceeds the pages availiable, the tome may simply cut off when it runs out of room. To avoid this, early tomes contained several thousand pages, but most contemporary tomes will adjust the font size of the received text.
It used to be possible to lock a tome by requesting a book not in its catalogue. In that case, the underlying spell will be unable to 'return' the requested book, and will become unusable. This remains a particular problem for public libraries, as private and university tomes tend to have fewer users or are replced more frequently, but the corection for this error was made publicly accessible in 1909, and no tome published since has been subject to this limitation.
A tome separated from its catalogue is almost useless, unless the user is familiar with the library's catalogue, as all public and most private libraries have tomes and guessing the titles available is an arduous (and, prior to 1909, a dangerous) process. As books in the parent library are added or removed, many libraries will notify patrons of updates and may release updated catalogues.

Historical Details

History

Originally designed to preserve fragile documents, the research librarians of the Magisterium created a device that would allow researchers to access any item in the library catalogue without having to physically touch the document in question. It was soon adopted by the university libraries across the Magistrium as an effective way of duplicating rare books, and preserving popular items.

Public Reaction

Tomes were rapidly adopted by wealthy library and university patrons, as a means of accessing private libraries while travelling. Soon after, charities promoting public literacy funded the mass-creation of chapbook tomes - cheap recreations linked to public libraries - for schools.
By the early 20th century, most people have access to at least one tome, either privately owned or through charitable organisations.

Legacy

Tomes are widely considered to be one of the most significant inventions of the 19th century, alongside electricity and the internal combustion engine. Countries with widespread adoption have seen exponential growth in literacy rates, and an global increase in literacy of 73% between 19850 and 1900.

Type

Manuscript, Magical (Tome/Scroll)

Medium

Paper