Librarian-Errant Eloise

Librarian-Errant Eloise is a titular designation of the Librarian-Errant rank held, at the time of record, by the individual of that name, and the only such designation in the archive whose file is maintained in two hands. The rank itself was created in the late 24th century during the Year of the Ninth Librarian and formalized by Clause 17.3 of the Third Concordance; that a single designation should nonetheless require dual custody is a distinction the Office of Granular Audit has never satisfactorily explained. Librarian-Errant Eloise is entered in the rolls as having been dispatched by Registrar-General Eloise to re-investigate the Chen Discrepancy of 1908, and as having returned from that errand with spool-data for the Breath of Stillness.

The dual warrant

Unusually among holders of the rank, Eloise carries two warrants: one observational, issued from the Observatorium of Errant Postulate on Floor 308, and one archival, countersigned by the Office of Granular Audit. The arrangement arose from a procedural accident. During the recension of the Errant rolls in the winter of 4114, a clerk of the Audit — one Marrow, since reassigned — entered the same individual twice, once under the observational heading and once under the archival, and neither entry could afterward be struck without voiding the other. Rather than amend the ledger, the Office elected to regard the duplication as "a warrant of two parts, jointly sufficient," a formula it has used in eleven subsequent cases.

The practical consequence is that Eloise may verify a claim and audit the verification of it in the same afternoon, provided the two acts are recorded on separate leaves. Librarian-Errant Kael, whose signature authority derives from the observational mandates of the Librarians-Errant, has objected that this makes Eloise's findings self-confirming.

The Chen Discrepancy and the spool-return

The 1908 discrepancy between the archival logs of Eloise of the Unspooled Chain and the volumetric spool-readings from the Courtyard of Errant Premises had been closed once and reopened twice before the dispatch of Librarian-Errant Eloise. Her return with the Breath of Stillness spools is the only instance on record of the discrepancy being resolved by means of a sound. Historian-Errant Kole notes that the spools were logged not under the discrepancy's original number but under a negative shelfmark, and argues this indicates Eloise was working from Librarian-Scribe Eloise's annex to Concordance 9.1.3, Clause 8812, rather than from her own warrant.

"The Errant returned from the Courtyard having verified nothing and having heard everything; the Office accepted the latter, as it was the louder."

— Office of Granular Audit, Annual Statement of Errant Returns, 1909

Relation to the Eloise Contingent

Librarian-Errant Eloise is frequently confused with Registrar-General Eloise, from whose personal ledgers the Eloise Contingent was codified. The confusion is administrative rather than personal: the two designations appear adjacent in the Audit's index, and the Equation (E = C + V + (A / Ø)) as transcribed in The Eloise Contingent carries no authorial mark. Clause 8812 of the Scribe's annex permits a name to be used without specification where the context "supplies the office," a permission the index does not exercise.

A grievance on this point was lodged in 4122 by the Registrar-General's own secretariat, which sought to have Eloise's entries prefixed with the observational mark to distinguish them. It was denied on the ground that prefixing would require the compilation of a list, and no list of Librarians-Errant may be compiled except by a Librarian-Errant.

The standing discrepancy at Floor 308

Whether Librarian-Errant Eloise may enter the Observatorium of Errant Postulate unaccompanied remains unresolved. The Fourth Concordance, Annex 2, holds that Errant observations must be taken in the presence of a witness; the Third Concordance, Clause 17.3, holds the opposite. Postulate 44-Alpha, which governs the reconciliation of conflicting Concordances in the Observatorium specifically, has been read both ways by successive Librarians.

Eloise's own practice is to enter alone and leave the door ajar, describing the opening as "the witness." The Office of Granular Audit has accepted this in every return to date, noting only that the door must be closed before the eleventh bell. As of the last inspection, the matter remained open, as did the door.

Inventory of the return

The items logged under the dual warrant on the return of 1909 were as follows:

• Eleven spools, Breath of Stillness, two of them silent at the aperture;
• One partial log of the Courtyard of Errant Premises, sealed by the Registrar-General;
• One negative shelfmark, later reassigned;
• One witness, unsigned.

The fourth entry is the subject of Historian-Errant Kole's current work. The third was struck from the record in 4111 and has not been returned.