diff --git a/build/Site.hs b/build/Site.hs
index e1ce356..fdc6320 100644
--- a/build/Site.hs
+++ b/build/Site.hs
@@ -2,8 +2,8 @@
 {-# LANGUAGE OverloadedStrings #-}
 module Site (rules) where
 
-import Control.Monad (filterM, forM, forM_, when)
-import Data.Char     (toUpper)
+import Control.Monad (forM, forM_, when)
+import Data.Char     (isSpace, toUpper)
 import Data.List     (groupBy, isPrefixOf, sort, sortBy)
 import Data.Map.Strict (Map)
 import Data.Maybe    (catMaybes, fromMaybe, listToMaybe)
@@ -55,6 +55,20 @@ homePortals =
     , ("Miscellany", "miscellany")
     ]
 
+-- | Default number of cards shown per library shelf. The sidecar
+--   'featured:' list may push this up to 'libraryShelfMax'.
+libraryShelfCap :: Int
+libraryShelfCap = 4
+
+-- | Hard ceiling on cards per shelf, regardless of sidecar length.
+libraryShelfMax :: Int
+libraryShelfMax = 5
+
+-- | Optional prose intro lifted into @$library-intro$@ on the library
+--   page. Matched but not routed; consumed via the @"body"@ snapshot.
+libraryIntroId :: Identifier
+libraryIntroId = fromFilePath "content/library.md"
+
 -- Poems inside collection subdirectories, excluding their index pages.
 collectionPoems :: Pattern
 collectionPoems = "content/poetry/*/*.md" .&&. complement "content/poetry/*/index.md"
@@ -257,7 +271,8 @@ rules = do
     match ("content/*.md"
             .&&. complement "content/index.md"
             .&&. complement "content/commonplace.md"
-            .&&. complement "content/colophon.md") $ do
+            .&&. complement "content/colophon.md"
+            .&&. complement "content/library.md") $ do
         route   $ gsubRoute "content/" (const "")
                   `composeRoutes` setExtension "html"
         compile $ pageCompiler
@@ -457,6 +472,13 @@ rules = do
                 >>= loadAndApplyTemplate "templates/default.html" ctx
                 >>= relativizeUrls
 
+    -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+    -- Library intro — optional prose block (typically a blockquote) lifted
+    -- into @$library-intro$@ at the top of /library.html. Matched but not
+    -- routed; the body snapshot is consumed by the library rule below.
+    -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+    match "content/library.md" $ compile sidecarCompiler
+
     -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
     -- Library — portal-grouped view over the /new.html dataset, deduplicated
     -- by primary portal. An item's primary portal is the top segment of the
@@ -465,14 +487,27 @@ rules = do
     -- silently dropped from the library (they remain on /new.html and on any
     -- tag pages their frontmatter produces).
     --
+    -- Each shelf is capped at 'libraryShelfCap' items by default. A portal's
+    -- tag-meta sidecar may carry a 'featured:' list of content-rooted paths
+    -- (e.g. @content/essays/foo.md@); featured items are placed first, in
+    -- listed order, and the remainder is filled by recency up to a hard
+    -- ceiling of 'libraryShelfMax'. Featured paths that don't resolve to an
+    -- item in the portal (wrong primary portal, or typo) are silently
+    -- dropped. When the unfiltered portal has more items than the shelf
+    -- shows, @$<slug>-has-more$@ is exposed so the template can render a
+    -- "More on this shelf →" affordance linking to the portal's tag page.
+    --
     -- Each card uses the shared item-card partial, with cross-portal filings
-    -- rendered in the card's tag footer via 'tagLinksFieldExcludingScope',
+    -- rendered in the card's tag footer via 'tagLinksFieldExcludingTopSegment',
     -- scoped to the section's portal so the portal's own tag is suppressed.
     -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
     create ["library.html"] $ do
         route idRoute
         compile $ do
-            let knownPortals = map snd homePortals
+            sidecarIds <- getMatches ("content/tag-meta/*.md"
+                                 .||. "content/tag-meta/**/*.md")
+            let sidecarSet   = Set.fromList sidecarIds
+                knownPortals = map snd homePortals
 
                 -- Top segment of the first tag that names a known portal.
                 -- Nothing when no tag matches — item is excluded from library.
@@ -499,31 +534,80 @@ rules = do
                     <> constField "full-abstract" "true"
                     <> essayCtx
 
-                portalList name p = listField name (portalItemCtx p) $ do
-                    essays  <- loadAll (allEssays                   .&&. hasNoVersion)
-                    posts   <- loadAll ("content/blog/*.md"         .&&. hasNoVersion)
-                    fiction <- loadAll ("content/fiction/*.md"      .&&. hasNoVersion)
-                    poetry  <- loadAll (allPoetry                   .&&. hasNoVersion)
-                    music   <- loadAll ("content/music/*/index.md"  .&&. hasNoVersion)
-                    let allItems = essays ++ posts ++ fiction ++ poetry ++ music
-                    filtered <- filterM (\i -> (== Just p) <$> primaryPortalOf i) allItems
-                    sorted   <- recentFirstByDisplay filtered
-                    -- noResult here makes the field absent, so the template's
-                    -- $if(p-entries)$ gate evaluates false and the section is
-                    -- omitted entirely (rather than rendering an empty <ul>).
-                    if null sorted
-                        then noResult ("no items in portal " ++ p)
-                        else return sorted
+            -- Load every content item once, then partition by primary portal
+            -- so each shelf draws from a pre-filtered list rather than
+            -- re-scanning the whole corpus eight times.
+            essays  <- loadAll (allEssays                   .&&. hasNoVersion)
+            posts   <- loadAll ("content/blog/*.md"         .&&. hasNoVersion)
+            fiction <- loadAll ("content/fiction/*.md"      .&&. hasNoVersion)
+            poetry  <- loadAll (allPoetry                   .&&. hasNoVersion)
+            music   <- loadAll ("content/music/*/index.md"  .&&. hasNoVersion)
+            let allContent = essays ++ posts ++ fiction ++ poetry ++ music
+                                :: [Item String]
+            tagged <- mapM (\i -> (,i) <$> primaryPortalOf i) allContent
+            let itemsByPortal :: Map.Map String [Item String]
+                itemsByPortal =
+                    Map.fromListWith (++) [(p, [i]) | (Just p, i) <- tagged]
 
-            -- Section order matches homePortals — single ordering authority.
-            let ctx = portalList "research-entries"   "research"
-                   <> portalList "nonfiction-entries" "nonfiction"
-                   <> portalList "fiction-entries"    "fiction"
-                   <> portalList "poetry-entries"     "poetry"
-                   <> portalList "music-entries"      "music"
-                   <> portalList "ai-entries"         "ai"
-                   <> portalList "tech-entries"       "tech"
-                   <> portalList "miscellany-entries" "miscellany"
+            -- Eager snapshot load registers the library-intro dependency
+            -- unconditionally, so a first-populate of content/library.md
+            -- re-renders the library page even when the gate was previously
+            -- false (see 'sidecarContext' in Tags.hs for the same pattern).
+            _ <- loadSnapshot libraryIntroId "body" :: Compiler (Item String)
+            let libraryIntroFld = field "library-intro" $ \_ -> do
+                    html <- itemBody <$> loadSnapshot libraryIntroId "body"
+                    if all isSpace html
+                        then noResult "empty library intro"
+                        else return html
+
+                -- One shelf's context contribution: the @<slug>-entries@
+                -- listField (or absent via noResult when the shelf is
+                -- empty) plus an optional @<slug>-has-more@ gate.
+                portalSection p = do
+                    let portalItems = fromMaybe [] (Map.lookup p itemsByPortal)
+                    sorted <- recentFirstByDisplay portalItems
+
+                    featuredPaths <-
+                        if sidecarIdentifier p `Set.member` sidecarSet
+                            then do
+                                meta <- getMetadata (sidecarIdentifier p)
+                                return (fromMaybe [] (lookupStringList "featured" meta))
+                            else return []
+
+                    let portalIdSet =
+                            Set.fromList (map itemIdentifier portalItems)
+                        featuredItems =
+                            [ i
+                            | path <- featuredPaths
+                            , let ident = fromFilePath path
+                            , ident `Set.member` portalIdSet
+                            , Just i <- [listToMaybe
+                                (filter ((== ident) . itemIdentifier) portalItems)]
+                            ]
+                        cap = min libraryShelfMax
+                                  (max libraryShelfCap (length featuredItems))
+                        featuredIds =
+                            Set.fromList (map itemIdentifier featuredItems)
+                        rest = filter (\i -> not (itemIdentifier i `Set.member` featuredIds)) sorted
+                        merged = take cap (featuredItems ++ rest)
+
+                    let entriesFld =
+                            listField (p ++ "-entries") (portalItemCtx p)
+                                (if null merged
+                                    then noResult ("no items in portal " ++ p)
+                                    else return merged)
+                        hasMoreFld
+                            | length portalItems > length merged =
+                                constField (p ++ "-has-more") "true"
+                            | otherwise = mempty
+
+                    return (entriesFld <> hasMoreFld)
+
+            -- Section order follows homePortals — single ordering authority.
+            sections <- mapM portalSection knownPortals
+
+            let ctx = mconcat sections
+                   <> libraryIntroFld
                    <> constField "title"   "Library"
                    <> constField "library" "true"
                    <> siteCtx
diff --git a/content/library.md b/content/library.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2646b39
--- /dev/null
+++ b/content/library.md
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+> *El universo (que otros llaman la Biblioteca) se compone de un número indefinido, y tal vez infinito, de galerías hexagonales, con vastos pozos de ventilación en el medio, cercados por barandas bajísimas.*
+>
+> [*Ficciones*](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ficciones) — Jorge Luis Borges (1941)
+
+
+# TODO: add language flagging within markdown source, needs to propagate to Ozymandias