Where to read in Dublin?

artvandelay48

Hi,
We have recently moved offices to the quays by O'Connell bridge. Does anyone have any recommendation for good places to read nearby that aren't a coffee shop (ie you aren't obliged to buy something). Is the library at the Ilac Centre the best bet? Are there quiet places in Trinity where you can find a place to read (I am assuming that the library is off limits to non-students)? There must be a good few there, anyone have any favourites?

pog it

For the winter I just use the Ilac but mainly for studying. They have fantastic reference sections and all the day's newspapers available to read. In terms of reading a book, it's not completely ideal as seating places are limited and most people are either on laptops or studying... Someone here recommended Foam Café which is in the 'Italian Quarter'. Upstairs in it there is usually a quiet spot and nobody rushing you.

Toby Take a Bow

Trinity, in the Arts Block, is great for reading, and they have nice couches there. Might be difficult to get a space when the students are around. The boardwalk gets a lot of bad press, but the further west you go, the safer you'd be (in my experience).

Amirani

Arts block in Trinity during winter as mentioned above, benches beside the cricket pitch during the warmer weather.

artvandelay48

Thanks folks, is the entrance to the Arts Block the one on Nassau street? And it is open to non-students? Where is the boardwalk?

Amirani

artvandelay48 wrote: »

Thanks folks, is the entrance to the Arts Block the one on Nassau street? And it is open to non-students? Where is the boardwalk?

It is the one on Nasaau St. and they can't really know whether you're a student or not.

Boardwalk runs above the Liffey on it's northern bank.

Denerick

A few of my haunts:

The Costa in the Jervis center (Usually quiet, nice coffee, soft chairs)

The Iveagh Gardens (Summer/spring only)

The memorial park in Parnell Square (Again, Summer/Spring only - unfortunately this place attracts many scobies though)

Trinity:

'The Secret Garden' - a little park between the geography building and the rugby pitch. Quiet, nice place to have some vodka/whiskey in coke bottles with some mates (thats a different sort of buzz though)

Arts block - stay away from the main landings, too noisy. Go up to the top floor and find yourself a quiet corner.

The GMB building (The big gothic yoke in front square) Go upstairs to the historical society debating room. Normally quiet depending on the time of day, free read of a newspaper also.

Anyone can get a readers ticket for the main library, so far as I'm aware. Either go up to the history/psychology area to one of the postgrad desks (Very quiet, feel like you're stuck in a curious 19th century yet modernist architecture time warp) Alternatively the basement has some nice couches.

Happy hunting.

artvandelay48

Denerick wrote: »

A few of my haunts:
Arts block - stay away from the main landings, too noisy. Go up to the top floor and find yourself a quiet corner.

Great tip and thanks! Very nice and quiet (outside of the main landings) and a great place to squirrel away for some lunchtime reading

Paddy Samurai

You could try hotel lobbies,if you can find a quite one nearby.Always people sitting around reading in hotels.Whats the westin like?.

Thoie

On nice days, head for the Abbey St Entrance to the Irish Life shopping mall, but instead of going in through the doors, go left up the escalator. There's a little garden there with a small pool, and low walls that you can sit on and read.

Cavehill Red

artvandelay48 wrote: »

Hi,
We have recently moved offices to the quays by O'Connell bridge. Does anyone have any recommendation for good places to read nearby that aren't a coffee shop (ie you aren't obliged to buy something). Is the library at the Ilac Centre the best bet? Are there quiet places in Trinity where you can find a place to read (I am assuming that the library is off limits to non-students)? There must be a good few there, anyone have any favourites?

Do you pay fees? If not, why do you feel you can use facilities which are intended for the use of students?

Denerick

Cavehill Red wrote: »

Do you pay fees? If not, why do you feel you can use facilities which are intended for the use of students?

Speaking as a former student of Trinity, and a current taxpayer, I say he is more than entitled to do so if he wishes. A university is more than a facility to sitting students, it is a hub of education (Which is why they often have public evening lectures and invite members of the public to attend) If the OP wishes to sit in the fifth floor of the arts block reading the Irish Times, I really don't see an issue. As a taxpayer he helps pay for the heating bills, lets not forget.

Cavehill Red

Denerick wrote: »

Speaking as a former student of Trinity, and a current taxpayer, I say he is more than entitled to do so if he wishes. A university is more than a facility to sitting students, it is a hub of education (Which is why they often have public evening lectures and invite members of the public to attend) If the OP wishes to sit in the fifth floor of the arts block reading the Irish Times, I really don't see an issue. As a taxpayer he helps pay for the heating bills, lets not forget.

You pay to attend those evening lectures. And it is an issue because the facilities of the Arts Block are significantly overcrowded as it is, to the extent that students are not able to use them.
As a taxpayer he likely contributes to all manner of services, such as maternity hospitals, Traveller education services, disability care facilities, migrant legal assistance and many others, that he will never access because they are not intended for his use.
Contrary to popular opinion, TCD is not a public facility. It is a part-publicly funded educational facility, and the OP has no more right to use its amenities than he does his local secondary school.

Kinski

Cavehill Red wrote: »

You pay to attend those evening lectures. And it is an issue because the facilities of the Arts Block are significantly overcrowded as it is, to the extent that students are not able to use them.
As a taxpayer he likely contributes to all manner of services, such as maternity hospitals, Traveller education services, disability care facilities, migrant legal assistance and many others, that he will never access because they are not intended for his use.
Contrary to popular opinion, TCD is not a public facility. It is a part-publicly funded educational facility, and the OP has no more right to use its amenities than he does his local secondary school.

Yeah, but it's not a school, it's a university. I've never been on any university campus that was completely closed to the public. Have you? If they wanted to prevent non-students/staff from going in there they could, but they don't.

Denerick

Still don't see what the problem is. Public lectures are free, I've been to a few since graduation, no mention what the payment is. The difference between a school and university is that one is an enclosed environment, in some ways intriguingly similar to a prison, the other is a public institution that emanates knowledge.

If the OP wishes to sit in the fifth floor of the arts block reading a book, I'm really not going to get up in arms about it. I still wander into the arts block myself on occasion and believe it or not I don't feel even remotely guilty about this incursion into (Note - extremely privileged) third level education.

Cavehill Red

Denerick wrote: »

Still don't see what the problem is. Public lectures are free, I've been to a few since graduation, no mention what the payment is..

Trust me, someone's paying for those lectures. Either an organisation or a department in the college. They're never free even if they're sometimes free to you. The college requires payment for the lecture halls.
The problem is this: the college is overcrowded. There are insufficient facilities for all students, especially in the Arts Block of all locations. When you consider that literally thousands of Arts and Humanities students gather in the Arts Block every term-time day, then the ability to sit down on one of those sofas or chairs becomes quite a desired commodity.
Currently the college does not (though it is entirely legally entitled to) demand from all in attendance to prove that they are students or else have a legitimate reason for being there. It would be a pity if it did have to come to that, but the facilities are very cramped for students and it would only take a complaint from the Students Union about visitors for the Dean to introduce security examination of all attending the premises.
I'm not trying to be deliberately belligerant with you. I've no doubt that anyone entering the Arts Block for a warm place to sit and read believes they're doing no harm. But students are paying up to 20 grand a year for the privilege to use facilities that are already overcrowded.
By all means feel free to use the place outside term time. But within term time, it would be best to show respect for those who are paying a lot of money to use those facilities by leaving them to them.

Denerick

Not going to happen Cavehill. I'm still going to go up to the top floor of the arts block and sit on one of the (many) free seats up there. And lord knows where you're getting your 20k a year figure from, most Trinity students are bankrolled by their parents.

If a time arises in which the fifth floor of the arts block begins to overflow with people I'll reconsider. However, I find that very unlikely since it is nearly always empty when I'm there.

Grievous

Students fighting with the goverment, and now regular joes.

Maybe the army would be the better route for some people.

Cavehill Red

Denerick wrote: »

Not going to happen Cavehill. I'm still going to go up to the top floor of the arts block and sit on one of the (many) free seats up there. And lord knows where you're getting your 20k a year figure from, most Trinity students are bankrolled by their parents.

These are from 2008/09 - TCD Treasurer's Office has not updated their online schedule. You can bet all of these are significantly higher now:

Non-EU fees for MSc Environmental Science - 19,583 euro.
Non-EU fees for MSc Physical Sciences Medicine - 20,308 euro.
Non-EU fees for MSc Counselling Psychology - 18,248 euro.
Non-EU fees for MSc in Cardiology - 36,457 euro.

And not so much lower in the Arts block either -

Non-EU fees for MSc in Applied Linguistics - 16,135 euro.
Non-EU fees for MSc in Business Administration - 17,500 euro.
Non-EU fees for MPhil in Music and Media Technologies - 17,586 euro.
Non-EU fees for LLM in Master of Laws - 18,333 euro.

So plenty of people are paying 20 grand a year to be in TCD. Those facilities are for their use, not yours. I might mention to the College security that they need to patrol the upper reaches of the Arts Block more thoroughly in future, and refer them to this thread.

Denerick

Yeah, you go report us Middlemarch readers to the relevant authorities.

The age of student radicalism is alive and well, I'm happy to see.

Utterly bizarre.

Cavehill Red

Denerick wrote: »

Yeah, you go report us Middlemarch readers to the relevant authorities.

The age of student radicalism is alive and well, I'm happy to see.

Utterly bizarre.

College facilities are overcrowded and students are paying through the nose to use them. You, on the other hand, are apparently too cheap to buy a coffee and read your book somewhere where you are not inconveniencing people's educations.

hunter164

Cavehill Red wrote: »

Do you pay fees? If not, why do you feel you can use facilities which are intended for the use of students?

Are you for real?

Cavehill Red

hunter164 wrote: »

Are you for real?

You don't mind if I come and sit on your sofa, do you?

Denerick

Cavehill Red wrote: »

You don't mind if I come and sit on your sofa, do you?

This is running pretty close to Godwins Law here.

Like it or not, TCD is a public university at the heart of the city with a vast alumni community (Many of whom work in the city center) Furthermore it is predominantly populated by Irish students, who are in turn subsidised by Irish taxpayers to avail of that world class education. The college is not an enclosed environment, it hosts public lecture series (Which are free to attend, the history department does at least one a month) and its many societies play host to outside speakers at various events. I would agree that it would be absurd to wander into a secondary school and sat around reading, but this is a university with plenty of space, especially in its upper reaches.

In short, this is a strange thing to get so worked up about.

Cavehill Red

Denerick wrote: »

This is running pretty close to Godwins Law here.

Like it or not, TCD is a public university at the heart of the city with a vast alumni community (Many of whom work in the city center) Furthermore it is predominantly populated by Irish students, who are in turn subsidised by Irish taxpayers to avail of that world class education. The college is not an enclosed environment, it hosts public lecture series (Which are free to attend, the history department does at least one a month) and its many societies play host to outside speakers at various events. I would agree that it would be absurd to wander into a secondary school and sat around reading, but this is a university with plenty of space, especially in its upper reaches.

In short, this is a strange thing to get so worked up about.

We've communicated via PM and presumably you now comprehend why I have perfectly good reason to complain about a thread on Ireland's biggest website inviting the public to come and use already crowded facilities that hard-pressed students pay through the nose to access. There are hundreds of other places to go and read in Dublin city centre. If a euro for a coffee is beyond the budget, the National Library is mere yards from TCD Arts block, and I'd suggest people try there instead. Unlike Trinity, it's rarely full.

hunter164

Cavehill Red wrote: »

You don't mind if I come and sit on your sofa, do you?

Stupid comparison. A public place where plenty of things happen in not including students only to my house, good man.

Why can't people go and read in Trinity? I see tourists wandering around you going to ask them to pay fees too?

Plowman

This post has been deleted.

Cavehill Red

hunter164 wrote: »

Stupid comparison. A public place where plenty of things happen in not including students only to my house, good man.

Why can't people go and read in Trinity? I see tourists wandering around you going to ask them to pay fees too?

Because it's not actually a public place. It's a part publicly funded place of higher education. Why can't people looking for somewhere to sit in out of the weather go and do so in one of the thousands of places in town where they wouldn't be inconveniencing people's higher education?

sillymoo

Cavehill Red wrote: »

hunter164 wrote: »

Stupid comparison. A public place where plenty of things happen in not including students only to my house, good man.

Why can't people go and read in Trinity? I see tourists wandering around you going to ask them to pay fees too?

Because it's not actually a public place. It's a part publicly funded place of higher education. Why can't people looking for somewhere to sit in out of the weather go and do so in one of the thousands of places in town where they wouldn't be inconveniencing people's higher education?

I fail to see how somebody sitting in a public space in the arts block is inconveniencing people's higher education. If they were sitting in the library I would understand.

Cavehill Red

sillymoo wrote: »

I fail to see how somebody sitting in a public space in the arts block is inconveniencing people's higher education. If they were sitting in the library I would understand.

It's not a public space. It's a space they've paid up to 20 or 30 grand a year to use.

The Scientician

Cavehill Red wrote: »

It's not a public space. It's a space they've paid up to 20 or 30 grand a year to use.

It's a space a small subsection of the student body has paid those levels of fees to access.