While Occult Library controls the maximum spells that your character can learn, one doesn't start off knowing every spell in their library. All characters begin with a number of spells equal to their Occultism + their Occult Library (OL) Quality. They cannot learn a spell with a Power Level (PL) more than twice the rank of their Occult Library. This represents spells that the character has already learned. The exception is for characters who have the Age Quality. They receive spells equal to the normal amount, plus 1 more spell for each level of Age they possess.
For example, Bob has Occultism 3 and Occult Library 2. He can choose 5 spells for his starting grimoire, but none of them can be above a Power Level 4.
Researching a spell takes a number of "research weeks" equal to the Power Level of the Spell. Just as like starting spells, you cannot research a spell with a Power Level more than twice the level of the Occult Library you are using to research the spell. So, if you are using your own 2 pt. Occult Library, you cannot research a spell with a PL above 4. However, if you have been able to talk your local Watcher into allowing them to use their Library, you can research a spell with a higher PL, subject to their restrictions. That means if they say you can't use their library to research a PL9 spell, you can't research that PL9 spell using their books, period.
A "Research Week" reflects 1 person spending 8 hours of research. Additional researchers can cut the time, dividing total time by the number of researchers, but only someone with Occultism of at least half the Power Level can research a spell (this applies to the main researcher, too…you cannot research a spell with a Power Level more than twice your Occultism, no matter how good the library you have).
While researching a spell, the character cannot be engaged in activities other than research, or that time does not count towards the Research Weeks. You should +request to Staff when you begin research of a spell, and if it is a new spell to be added to the database, list the details of the spell (as per NEWS SPELL DESIGN). Staff will add the spell to your grimoire when the spell research is completed.
The nature of the system is that a character rolls their Intelligence + Occultism. They must achieve a number of SL's equal to the PL of the spell. If they do not, they must spend -another- amount of time equal to the first Research period, then roll again. SLs are tabulated; getting 2 SL on the first roll and 3 on a second gives 5 towards learning a spell. This continues till the spell is learned. Gaining MORE SLs than the PL cuts the time by 1 week per SL, or 1 day per, if it drops less than 1 week. So if someone is trying to learn a PL 2 spell and gets 4 SL, they get the spell in 6 days (2 SL learns in 2 weeks, a third in 1 week, and the last cuts 1 day).
