"If you were looking for a tattered library, you're in the right place," a disembodied voice spoke out from behind a relatively sturdy counter before Zach rose to his full height, loose sheets of paper in his hand, and looked up at the new arrival. Even in shadow, backlit by the bright world outside, he made out Caradoc Dearborn, one of the first people with whom he'd managed to have a decent conversation since showing up in this awful village.
"You needn't have bothered battling the front door open, the rear one's come clean off," he said monotonously, returning his attention to the spreadsheet in his hand. The pages appeared to be part of a list of books, either inventory or an order form, though he couldn't tell how long the list truly was without a page number. "I thought it might have been a bookshop at first, but I found a half-empty box of index cards over there." Zach pointed with the sheet he wasn't reading off of. "Let me know if you find any newspapers, won't you? That's what I was looking for. Got a bit distracted. Do you know anyone by the name of Mildred Scotsview? Scots...ville? Scatsview? I can't read this. Scares-... Whoever this Mildred person is, I think she was the head librarian. Or the owner?"