Reality of Dun Laoghaire Library

Larbre34

Seaswimmer wrote: »

In your opinion...:D

Not just mine, not by a long shot. I appreciate there has been diverse opinions of it on here, but talking to people on the street and other businesses, occasional visitors and tourists, DL residents etc Id give it 80/20 against. Its actually a local joke.

Tabnabs

Larbre34 wrote: »

Not just mine, not by a long shot. I appreciate there has been diverse opinions of it on here, but talking to people on the street and other businesses, occasional visitors and tourists, DL residents etc Id give it 80/20 against. Its actually a local joke.

Taking to a local business owner and DL resident last week, he reckoned the locals would protest far more voraciously if anyone suggested today that the building should be torn down. He reckons it has been welcomed with open arms by the entire DLR population and is a huge success. I call BS on your 80/20 figure and would turn it on its head entirely, as 80/20 for the Lexicon. It's full every time I visit it to renew our books.

Some people just won't let go of the past, begrudge change and seek to stymie progress.

ted1

Tabnabs wrote: »

Taking to a local business owner and DL resident last week, he reckoned the locals would protest far more voraciously if anyone suggested today that the building should be torn down. He reckons it has been welcomed with open arms by the entire DLR population and is a huge success. I call BS on your 80/20 figure and would turn it on its head entirely, as 80/20 for the Lexicon. It's full every time I visit it to renew our books.

Some people just won't let go of the past, begrudge change and seek to stymie progress.

His post is talking about the ascetics of it not of its services.
I completely agree with him. From the people parks side it's absolutely hideous

Larbre34

You can call BS as much as you like Tabnabs, we're both talking about anecdotal evidence. As for it being busy, I dont blame a single person for using it, the facilities are very good but I and many others believe they should have been contained in a more sympathetic and less brutalist design.

And as for patronage being the indicator of acceptance, it only takes 100 or so bodies to make the library itself look busy, we're talking about a disgraceful amount of money spent on behalf of 200,000+ people in the County.

murpho999

Larbre34 wrote: »

Not just mine, not by a long shot. I appreciate there has been diverse opinions of it on here, but talking to people on the street and other businesses, occasional visitors and tourists, DL residents etc Id give it 80/20 against. Its actually a local joke.

Are you really going around talking to visitors and tourists and asking them what the think of the Library?

I have recently started work in DL and there are far bigger issues there from what I see and I'm not referring to buildings.

The library looks fine, and is a good facility and will not be spoken of in a few years when people get used to it.

You can't expect everything to be built in an old fashioned style. Sometimes things have to be different to progress.
I'm sure some people didn't like the first Georgian Style house when it was built but it became the norm.

KingBrian2

You need a large building to store a lot of books. Libraries are places to read.

jcon1913

Tabnabs wrote: »

Taking to a local business owner and DL resident last week, he reckoned the locals would protest far more voraciously if anyone suggested today that the building should be torn down. He reckons it has been welcomed with open arms by the entire DLR population and is a huge success. I call BS on your 80/20 figure and would turn it on its head entirely, as 80/20 for the Lexicon. It's full every time I visit it to renew our books.

Some people just won't let go of the past, begrudge change and seek to stymie progress.

Sorry tabsy baby its you that should be called out on this. You are fighting spoof with spoof. Duirt bean liom go duirt bean eile, a woman said to me that another woman told her..... youre talking thru your hat as per usual on this thread. Wheres your proof? Or is it spoof? Or just your opinion- which youre entitled to.

Cookie_Monster

If people really were unhappy with it they would have objected at the various planning stages and the building wouldn't have happened. I don't recall large scale objections to ABP at any stage...

RainyDay

jcon1913 wrote: »

Sorry tabsy baby its you that should be called out on this. You are fighting spoof with spoof. Duirt bean liom go duirt bean eile, a woman said to me that another woman told her..... youre talking thru your hat as per usual on this thread. Wheres your proof? Or is it spoof? Or just your opinion- which youre entitled to.

Do you look for proof on both sides of the debate, or just one side?

Tabnabs

jcon1913 wrote: »

Sorry tabsy baby its you that should be called out on this. You are fighting spoof with spoof. Duirt bean liom go duirt bean eile, a woman said to me that another woman told her..... youre talking thru your hat as per usual on this thread. Wheres your proof? Or is it spoof? Or just your opinion- which youre entitled to.

So I'm entitled to give my opinion, which you say is spoof against other spoof, and that is therefore talking through my hat.

Any more pearls of wisdom?

jcon1913

RainyDay wrote: »

Do you look for proof on both sides of the debate, or just one side?

Does anyone have facts or is it all just their own opinion?

jcon1913

Tabnabs wrote: »

So I'm entitled to give my opinion, which you say is spoof against other spoof, and that is therefore talking through my hat.

Any more pearls of wisdom?

Now we're moving forward - you are spoofing, just like the other guy - but at least you 'fess up to it. Much as I disagree with what you are saying at least we can agree on that.

markpb

jcon1913 wrote: »

Does anyone have facts or is it all just their own opinion?

How can there be facts in a discussion about whether a building is aesthetically pleasing or not?

jcon1913

markpb wrote: »

How can there be facts in a discussion about whether a building is aesthetically pleasing or not?

Because posters are on here saying a majority of people like / dislike the building with no back-up for their assertions. Personally I don't like it but that's just my opinion.

schemingbohemia

Well, in a fully independently audited review of a conversation between myself and my girlfriend, it was found that 100% of people in DLR found that the Lexicon is both aesthetically pleasing (in it's prow of a ship form) and a huge asset to the people of DLR.

josip

schemingbohemia wrote: »

...and a huge asset...

You won't get many arguments against that bit

Fratton Fred

It's a funny building. In my opinion, it looks awful from the sandycove side and it is disappointing, but typical, that some of the finishing needs to be completed, but when you walk around the outside of it, it is very good.

I haven't been inside yet, but my wife and daughter are regular visitors and love it.

KingBrian2

I'm confused people are protesting over water taxes, bogs being cut, or not being cut, marijuana not being legalised, abortion, civil rights you name it but when it comes to a library everyone kicks up a fuss yet nobody bothered to complain at the time it was decided to build the damn thing. For Christ sake people, it is your vote your library. You'd think we were governed by a dictator the way people go on.

errlloyd

Visited it for the first time on Sunday evening, it was very busy. The space was impressive, reminded of me the Scottish National Museum in Edinburgh architecturally. There is some acoustic though, so I dunno how well I'd be able to study in their, even though the top floor is silent and carpeted, it's not a quiet building.

Patrick2010

errlloyd wrote: »

Visited it for the first time on Sunday evening, it was very busy. The space was impressive, reminded of me the Scottish National Museum in Edinburgh architecturally. There is some acoustic though, so I dunno how well I'd be able to study in their, even though the top floor is silent and carpeted, it's not a quiet building.

Thought it only opened Monday to Saturday?

mailforkev

I like it, and when I saw the inside I was more impressed. It was a bit expensive I agree but it's a fine building in my opinion.

Having said that, my wife doesn't like it. She hasn't been inside it mind you. I suppose that's how opinions work, we can all have different ones.

Anecdotally all of the people I know currently living in DL town (quite a few) are positive about it. These would be folk in their 30s.

Schadenfreudia

mailforkev wrote: »

Anecdotally all of the people I know currently living in DL town (quite a few) are positive about it. These would be folk in their 30s.

Yep. Lots of exceptions but in general the older the person the more likely they are to dislike its external appearance.

Which I suppose just indicates that the younger you are the more likely you are to have good taste

Alias G

http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/theatre-arts/dun-laoghaire-library-they-built-it-and-they-came-31018393.html

More plaudits for the library.

Larbre34

No mention that the water feature was practically dismantled about 3 weeks ago, whether its back in service again i dont know. Who's paying for that?!

markpb

Larbre34 wrote: »

No mention that the water feature was practically dismantled about 3 weeks ago, whether its back in service again i dont know. Who's paying for that?!

If there's a fault, you can fairly safely assume that the builder is paying for any repairs.

Chinasea

Managed to finally get there. Had a day off work mid-week, and what with it being funded by the tax payer and all that, you think they could at least open on a Sunday when the tax payer is off.

It's nice, it ticks the boxes, but what I really find annoying is that it is more a creche-library. The noise of crying, excited, children was omnipresent. Hey, I love to see my children read and take an interest in books, most of us do, but japers, the place is a massive €36 million raucous open-house-creche. I did see what looked like a purpose built enclosed area for children, could they not enlarge that or manage that a bit fairer.

I thought a library was somewhere you could escape for a bit of peace and quiet and concentrate or study or chill etc., with your children, without your children, but you ought to try keeping yourself and them quieter.

Seaswimmer

Chinasea wrote: »

Managed to finally get there. Had a day off work mid-week, and what with it being funded by the tax payer and all that, you think they could at least open on a Sunday when the tax payer is off.

It's nice, it ticks the boxes, but what I really find annoying is that it is more a creche-library. The noise of crying, excited, children was omnipresent. Hey, I love to see my children read and take an interest in books, most of us do, but japers, the place is a massive €36 million raucous open-house-creche. I did see what looked like a purpose built enclosed area for children, could they not enlarge that or manage that a bit fairer.

I thought a library was somewhere you could escape for a bit of peace and quiet and concentrate or study or chill etc., with your children, without your children, but you ought to try keeping yourself and them quieter.

Think the problem with Sunday opening in DL would be that all other libraries would be under pressure to provide Sunday opening as well.

But I agree as Sunday is probably the busiest day on the seafront..

Kingp35

Chinasea wrote: »

It's nice, it ticks the boxes, but what I really find annoying is that it is more a creche-library. The noise of crying, excited, children was omnipresent. Hey, I love to see my children read and take an interest in books, most of us do, but japers, the place is a massive €36 million raucous open-house-creche. I did see what looked like a purpose built enclosed area for children, could they not enlarge that or manage that a bit fairer.

I thought a library was somewhere you could escape for a bit of peace and quiet and concentrate or study or chill etc., with your children, without your children, but you ought to try keeping yourself and them quieter.

That would be my impression as well. It's far too loud for a library and I certainly wouldn't want to be going there if I was studying for an exam. The children's library is not separated from the adults and coupled with the huge space the noise carries throughout the place. I think it's an excellent facility but it's also quite empty, they could easily fit more into it. If they could enforce a policy where people need to be quieter then it could be excellent.

I remember getting told off countless times for being too loud when I used to study in Dalkey library and all I was doing was talking!

RainyDay

Kingp35 wrote: »

That would be my impression as well. It's far too loud for a library and I certainly wouldn't want to be going there if I was studying for an exam. The children's library is not separated from the adults and coupled with the huge space the noise carries throughout the place. I think it's an excellent facility but it's also quite empty, they could easily fit more into it. If they could enforce a policy where people need to be quieter then it could be excellent.

Is it noisy on all levels in all spaces?

Yer Aul One

A few quiet rooms would be simple enough to add in.

I dont see the councillors giving up their new unused offices for this purpose though. The main purpose of a library might I add