[The staff of the View has long been a fan of the Library of Ivory website. We feel it is a major asset for newer and older players on an in-character level. It is there where a character and player can learn about world of the Realms and its history. Much of what is there is relevant to our game now. Leanne has kindly produced this article which shows how to navigate and understand how the site works and even how players can update the site themselves. There are pictures throughout to visually help in this endeavor.]
The Library of Ivory - An IC Realms Wiki
After questing one day and ending up with a ton of scrolls and texts (literally, an entire tote full) the question of how to share the knowledge with the entirety of the Realms arose. How could all this information be shared and prevent the “IC bad guys” from reading it? This was also a time of many Realms villains bantered with the adventurers over the In-Character mailing list. A wiki seemed the best choice and it grew into the current Library with almost 2000 pages of content about events and subjects from as early as 1992 to today.
The Library at the City of Ivory is an In-Character online resource dedicated to sharing information in the Realms. The Library is a wiki; a website where users can add, remove, and edit every page using a web browser.
The Library was built by Dave Kapell (Iacob of Ivory) from the ground up in 2006 and 2007 and supported by the members of the nation of Ivory. Though the lands of Ivory are now beholden to the Kingdom of Coventry, the former members of Ivory and the current members of Coventry continue to contribute to the site. Dave still maintains and hosts the Library content while content and updates are monitored, edited, and added by Leanne Hoffman (Faelinn Shadowmoon).
How to sign up:
Signing up for the Library is easy! The Library can be found at library.cityofivory.org. At the top of the page, click the signup button.
The Library of Ivory - An IC Realms Wiki
After questing one day and ending up with a ton of scrolls and texts (literally, an entire tote full) the question of how to share the knowledge with the entirety of the Realms arose. How could all this information be shared and prevent the “IC bad guys” from reading it? This was also a time of many Realms villains bantered with the adventurers over the In-Character mailing list. A wiki seemed the best choice and it grew into the current Library with almost 2000 pages of content about events and subjects from as early as 1992 to today.
The Library at the City of Ivory is an In-Character online resource dedicated to sharing information in the Realms. The Library is a wiki; a website where users can add, remove, and edit every page using a web browser.
The Library was built by Dave Kapell (Iacob of Ivory) from the ground up in 2006 and 2007 and supported by the members of the nation of Ivory. Though the lands of Ivory are now beholden to the Kingdom of Coventry, the former members of Ivory and the current members of Coventry continue to contribute to the site. Dave still maintains and hosts the Library content while content and updates are monitored, edited, and added by Leanne Hoffman (Faelinn Shadowmoon).
How to sign up:
Signing up for the Library is easy! The Library can be found at library.cityofivory.org. At the top of the page, click the signup button.
You will be then be taken to the signup page.
Here you will enter a username for the Library. It can be whatever you want, as long as you can remember it. Enter in your real name and you IC name so the staff can know who you are and also to give you credit for any content you add to the Library. Enter in your email address so that the staff can contact you if they have any questions about content you add. This email address will be the one where your account notifications will be sent. The staff asks that you use a current and valid email address. Finally, choose a password for the Library and you’re on your way!
New accounts are usually processed during work hours during the day and are scattered on the weekend. Please allow up to 24 hours for new account approval.
Using the Library
Now that you’ve signed up for the library, you can do a few different things: read content, add content, edit content you’ve previously added. You want to make sure you’re always logged in to the Library. You can view public information without being logged in, but some informations is “Protected”. This means you “make yourself known to the librarians (aka. Log in) to access the information. This is an In-Character tool to prevent sensitive information being shared by everyone and everyone and IC prevents the “bad guys” from reading up on what the players know about them.
Reading content:
To read content, you can click on any tab at the top of the Library home page.
The Coventry tab will give you information about the Kingdom of Coventry, its lands (which include Ivory), and its members.
The Ivory tab will give you information about the City of Ivory, where the library is located In Character.
The Lore tab will bring you to the bulk of the site content.
The Lore is organized by subject. Threats is where you will find the most information about plots and villains for the past and current events. Click around! There is a lot to see and read. If you can’t find something you’re looking for, try the search box located at the top right of each screen.
Adding content:
You must be logged in to add content to the Library. Much of the information of how to add content is located in the Help tab under the subject “Adding Content”. Also reading “Content Questions” can help determine what is appropriate to add and what is not. Currently we have no Out of Character section in the Library and try to keep all the information IC. Perhaps you found a strange note on a quest. Maybe you’re divination answers are vital to a plot. Your friend wrote an original song for a bardic tournament that you want to share. All of these things are welcome in the Library.
To add content, first you need to determine where the best place for it to go is. You can create a subject under one of the existing categories (Threats, Regional Lore, Religious Lore, etc) or add it as a child page to an already existing page.
For example, a document was found about a woman known as Minerva. After talking to some people and/or searching the Library you find that Minerva is the Avatar of Antioch, the God of Magic. While it might be appropriate to this information under “People”, it makes more sense to group it under “Religious Lore” in the Lore section. The Religious Lore section has a page already set up for Antioch.
Click on “Antioch” to see the pages in that section.
There is only one page about Antioch, which give information about that god. To add a page under it, click the “Add Child Page” tab. This will nest the new page under the existing one in the section.
The top of the page shows the location and grouping of where the child page can be found.
Here you can add a title to your document, set the privacy setting, and add a template if you desire. Please reference the “Adding Content” page in the help section for more information about templates. A template helps the staff organize the content better and provide more background information about the information.
Here, the template “Recovered Lore” is selected and filled in before entering the text from the document found at the event in the large text box. Each field must be filled in. If you don’t know the author or where the document came from, you can always type “unknown” into the field.
After filling out the information in the title and template, enter the document in the text box. Scrolling all the way down to the bottom of the page will yield more options and tips on how to add content. You can add images, html coding, tag the content, and link to existing pages. More information on adding tags can be found in the Help tab under “Tags”.
Click the “Add content” button at the bottom and you’re done!
Editing content:
To edit content you have previously added, click the “Edit page” tab at the top of the page content.
This will take you to the same page as if you were adding new content except that the information is already filled in. You can edit the text, fix spelling mistakes, update information, add tags, etc.
If you want to comment on a page you did not create, you can use the “Discuss” tab. If you cannot edit a page, the edit button will not be there.
Enter in your comment in the text box and click ‘add comment”. The comment will appear in the “Discuss” tab. As with all added content it will also show how added it and when. You can also add this by typing it in the text box with your comment.
Library staff members are the only ones who can edit other people’s content. If you have a question or concern about another person’s added page, notify the Library staff.
Staff:
The easy to contact staff are listed below and their information can be found on Realmsnet.
Leanne Hoffman - Head librarian (content management)
Janna Oakfellow Pushee - librarian (adding/editing content)
Dave Kapell - Site Administration (site/wiki content, hosting)
When in doubt, ask someone in a Coventry tabard and they will point you in the right direction!
Thank you for everyone who continues to use the site. With over 140+ accounts, you all help to make the Library a great resource for the community.