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[Carch]

so, after finding out that copied books would make a pretty good export product (and I didn't go for that long a history) I thought it'd be a fun idea to start a fortress dedicated to manuscripts. however, after making a few copies, my scribes seem to have.. stopped. I've checked and they have plenty of scrolls available (not making books just yet), and they are even idling inside the meeting hall /library where the scrolls to copy are. I've tried setting them to make more copies of books, to make less. even tried appointing just scribes and no scholars. they just don't seem to copy books/scrolls any more. has anyone else had this or does anyone have a workaround?

[martinuzz]

they need quires, not scrolls to copy books

[Carch]

they need quires, not scrolls to copy books

but they're copying scrolls. and they managed to copy the first scroll that was written just fine. along the way they seem to have just stopped.

[Bouchart]

You need a lot of tables and chairs in your library.  Dwarves use them to read, and also to eat sometimes.  If there's no space there a scribe won't work.

[Antalia]

Do we need chairs matched up with tables at a 1:1 ratio, or can dwarves use multiple chairs adjacent to the same table?

I've been packing more and more tables and chairs into my library. This seems to cause more dwarves to congregate in there, but I'm not sure it helps the scribes find a seat! I have dozens of written books and empty quires, but my scribes seem to rarely copy them.

[PatrikLundell]

Dorfs cannot share tables...

[greycat]

Here's my rather modest library:



10 tables, 10 chairs, 20 bookcases, 5 scholars, 2 scribes, 21 written objects.  It's a start.

[Niddhoger]

I am having a similar problem.  I have 50 quires IN THE LIBRARY, and more tables than are in my dining room (it reports that I have 60, but I "only" have 36).  After about 4 years, I'm up to 20 scholars and have... 11 books.  Not one of my scribes has ever scribbled a damned thing.  I booted up a fresh embark on a different world and my first scribe immediately hoped to it copying the 4 books I bought from the first fall caravan.  No bloody clue why this library won't produce nothing.

[Pancakes]

I had a problem where a scribe would start copying, but then stop if he/she got distracted by some other job. After they stop copying to go do this job, they will not complete the original copy job.

In order to circumvent this, I found that you need to (t) look in building on any tables with <book> and <writing material>. If they have task next to their names, but on the units list no one is copying, then forbid and unforbid the items on the table. After I did this, the scribe went back to copying after a short while.

So, now I just check the table from time to time to make sure they're actually copying. Hope that helps a bit.

[Niddhoger]

Well, as I said, no scribe will even start scribbling.  I am years into a fort with a giant library with more tables than my dining room and 50 quires ready for scribbling (as per the location screen).  I have... ~10 books my scribes have managed to write in 5 years, and not a single copy.  No scribe will start one, ever.   The copy limit was set to 5, too.  I even have more artifacts than books now, and I've had 10+ scholars after the first year, and around 20 for the last few.

[Carch]

Well, as I said, no scribe will even start scribbling.  I am years into a fort with a giant library with more tables than my dining room and 50 quires ready for scribbling (as per the location screen).  I have... ~10 books my scribes have managed to write in 5 years, and not a single copy.  No scribe will start one, ever.   The copy limit was set to 5, too.  I even have more artifacts than books now, and I've had 10+ scholars after the first year, and around 20 for the last few.

niddhoger, just to be sure. you say scholars, do you mean scribes? because the 'scholar' assignment will not copy books to start with. according to the descriptions on the wiki anyway. the scribe assignment will. I did notice that all my books seem to be occupied all the time. haven't had much time to play since I posted this. I'll be doing some more experimenting later (like locking my scribes and only my scribes inside the library).
as for size, I decided to go big, it's about 50 bookcases and at least 60 tables with one chair each.

[Carch]

I had a problem where a scribe would start copying, but then stop if he/she got distracted by some other job. After they stop copying to go do this job, they will not complete the original copy job.

In order to circumvent this, I found that you need to (t) look in building on any tables with <book> and <writing material>. If they have task next to their names, but on the units list no one is copying, then forbid and unforbid the items on the table. After I did this, the scribe went back to copying after a short while.

So, now I just check the table from time to time to make sure they're actually copying. Hope that helps a bit.

thank you! one of my scribes immediately started making a copy again. I have unfortunately rigt now run out of writing material, all my scholars have not been idle while I've been trying to get my scribes to scribe. that may also have been a factor after my last expansion. on that note, the 'writing material present' statistic in the library seems to really screw up, at least with scrolls. it sais I have 32 writeable objects available, but the chests are empty, and only one thing is being copied. maybe it counts all present scrolls, not just empty ones?

[Niddhoger]

Yeah, sorry, I meant ~10 books my SCHOLARS wrote (originals) in those 5 years.  I had ~22 scholars and ~3 scribes.  The scribes had all other labors turned off (except lever pulling), but would still just goof off instead of working.  None of the books were caught up with orphaned tsk markers either. 

However, I deleted the meeting zone and retired the library.  Then I reformed the library with all the same scholars/scribes (again, with all other labors turned off).  The scribes immediately went to work.  I... really have no idea tbh.  The scribes had access to all the writing materials before AND tables (the location screen listed both numerous tables AND quires available).  So.... idk? Just "restarting" fixed me. I had sworn I'd done this before, but I probably only redid the activity zone without going into locations to officially "retire" the library.  I didn't want the library to drop down to the bottom of my list under my temples.

[Pancakes]

It might be counting materials that are designated to be in the library but haven't been stored there yet, or perhaps you have reached the limit for how many copies to make of each book?

In many cases where there is a job stalling glitch like in the cases of library scribes, the main workaround is to reset labors, forbid and unforbid job items, reset zones, or change (o)rders. It helps to look at the items in the zones (as you have) and also look at items in other stockpiles/workshops, or items being currently hauled in the jobs menu.

I'm not sure if you are currently experiencing the same problem I had, where writing materials would perpetually be hauled from stockpile to library, and back again. I only resolved that by removing all paper stockpiles, and even then the problem persisted after 'resetting' everything.

My only theory is that I had set the number of items to store in the stockpile too high for the number of chests that I possessed, but that fortress fell to a series nasty forgotten beasts.

[PatrikLundell]

The constant hauling bug is acknowledged on the bug tracker. I've seen it with quires and with instruments, and possibly goblets. Basically the new stuff stored in containers in the new zones. Haven't heard anything about it breaking hospitals, though (they use containers in zones, so they might be candidates for trouble).