In order for it to work though, you'd have to make the explorer's notebook a lot more noticeable than it is now.

Maybe put it on a new, adventurer-type NPC by the fountain inbetween the shops. He could stop you and tell you his story and then hand you his notebook for safekeeping. Or he could simply have it for sale, alongside all the other maps that usually reside in the equipment room. Add some more actual equipment to buy in the equipment room to flesh out his inventory after all the maps are removed. Lights, lockpicks, and maybe some weapons that are somehow better than your average practice dagger.

Maybe have those weapons could be a learning tool, too. A mage's dagger would give you more mana, and when wielded, you'll get an echo explaining that you didn't lose mana when you wielded it, your maximum mana just increased, and that many items in Thera can be used to affect your character's attributes like this.

Another idea for quests in the academy is you could expand the lower caverns and have Simon sell keys, and you have to find the chest that belongs to each key. Kind of like an easter-egg hunt, only you have to get past a bunch of baddies to get there.

Splntrd