Reality of Dun Laoghaire Library

Vincent Vega

Larbre34 wrote: »

It uses some kind of fangled low energy air conditioning.

I guess this accounts for the rather eerie wind you can hear howling through the place :pac:

murpho999

Had a look at the library for the first time yesterday.

I think it looked very well inside.

Sounds silly but I liked how it was not just filled chockerblock with books. Definitely went for the 'Less is more' approach.

One thing though is that that the top floor has a great view but they put the childrens book section there. When I was there yesterday there was lots of kids running around, not caring about the view and the seats where empty.

Think they should have that section for people who'd enjoy the view.

Also, I like the outside look as well. I don't get why people need to see DL whilst in Sandycove and think what people would have thought when the first skyscraper went up on New York. Something has to break the tradition.

uch

murpho999 wrote: »

Had a look at the library for the first time yesterday.
Also, I like the outside look as well. I don't get why people need to see DL whilst in Sandycove and think what people would have thought when the first skyscraper went up on New York. Something has to break the tradition.

Chinasea

murpho999 wrote: »

One thing though is that that the top floor has a great view but they put the childrens book section there. When I was there yesterday there was lots of kids running around, not caring about the view and the seats where empty.

Think they should have that section for people who'd enjoy the view.
.

Kinda like when you see houses along the sea front with killer views and they have net curtains up.

Tabnabs

Go upstairs again and enjoy the view from an even higher vantage point. There's a balcony up there too, but closed off the time I visited.

CatFromHue

In the library recently and if anything they could have made it bigger!

On the middle level I'd say the computers and study desks are around 90% (or more) full with a good mix of people (not just secondary students.

Plus there's a good amount of people sitting around and reading on the one off chairs.

The toilet facilities could be better though.

JayRoc

Made the trip down on the dart today as I've the morning off, with the intention of picking up a particular book that the DLRCC online catalogue says is available in the "lexicon". Noted the ref. number and shelf location. And of course no-one had a clue where it was when I got there, and it turned out the shelf location "F" simply stood for "Fiction". Sigh.

I took the chance to look at the place from the inside while I was there, as I've never been in Dun Laoghaire during its open hours before. For some reason they don't open on Sundays at all.

The positives: the view from the top floor (the "quiet zone") is very nice.

And the kids section seems busy and reasonably well stocked from what I could see.

The computers and study areas are obviously popular with the local students, and are well used.


And the negatives: well, everything else, really.

The place is HUGE. Too big, to be honest. It seems to contain relatively few books and you're left with the impression of being a pea bouncing around in a tin can.

No one seems to know where anything is. I overhead a few people ask staff questions and they were all politely directed toward a computer terminal that tells you essentially nothing apart from whether or not the book you want is somewhere in the library building.

It's very noisy. Big empty buildings tend to amplify noise, yes. But the 3rd floor, while a nice study area, has had to be designated a "quiet zone". In a library???

I don't know why it doesn't open on Sundays. DL is a popular Sunday destination for a lot of families and with a few more books the library could be a good spot to have a potter about.

Long and the short of it? There's basically a HUGE amount of wasted space, and given the crazy 37 million euro price tag in an area with such a housing crisis, I was sadly left wondering "what's the POINT?"

newport2

JayRoc wrote: »

Long and the short of it? There's basically a HUGE amount of wasted space, and given the crazy 37 million euro price tag in an area with such a housing crisis, I was sadly left wondering "what's the POINT?"

The great DL&R county councilors now have nice new offices to lounge about in, that was always the point. Meanwhile, they continue to charge for parking down the road with half the local shops there empty.

Seaswimmer

newport2 wrote: »

The great DL&R county councilors now have nice new offices to lounge about in, that was always the point. Meanwhile, they continue to charge for parking down the road with half the local shops there empty.

As a matter of interest are there any council staff moving to the new library. It dosent look to me like there is much office space in the building..

RainyDay

newport2 wrote: »

The great DL&R county councilors now have nice new offices to lounge about in, that was always the point. Meanwhile, they continue to charge for parking down the road with half the local shops there empty.

There are no offices for Councillors in the Lexicon. As it happens, there are no offices for Councillors anywhere. Councillors don't get offices. But keep on banging the drum...

JayRoc

Seaswimmer wrote: »

As a matter of interest are there any council staff moving to the new library. It dosent look to me like there is much office space in the building..

I saw a half dozen or so nice-looking offices on the top floor, all clearly in use (as opposed to being vacant) but no one was actually in one while I was there at eleven on a Thursday morning.

newport2

JayRoc wrote: »

I saw a half dozen or so nice-looking offices on the top floor, all clearly in use (as opposed to being vacant) but no one was actually in one while I was there at eleven on a Thursday morning.

They are offices for the County Council’s Library HQ and Arts Office functions.

Larbre34

RainyDay wrote: »

There are no offices for Councillors in the Lexicon. As it happens, there are no offices for Councillors anywhere. Councillors don't get offices. But keep on banging the drum...

Yes they do, theres a suite of very expensive party rooms for Councillors in the old Town Hall part of the County Hall and another smaller shared office in Dundrum.

Larbre34

newport2 wrote: »

They are offices for the County Council’s Library HQ and Arts Office functions.

All of the Library and Arts admin is in the basement, there are offices for artists and poet in residence and other community work on the top floor.

Larbre34

JayRoc wrote: »

and given the crazy 37 million euro price tag in an area with such a housing crisis, I was sadly left wondering "what's the POINT?"

The Lexicon was built (for good or ill) using some of the development levies built up by DLR over the last many years. Those levies can only be spent on facilities like roads, water supply and drainage and parks and community facilities. Even if every soul in Dun Laoghaire suddenly found themselves homeless, legally not a penny could be taken from levies to spend on it.

Bits_n_Bobs

Larbre34 wrote: »

The Lexicon was built (for good or ill) using some of the development levies built up by DLR over the last many years. Those levies can only be spent on facilities like roads, water supply and drainage and parks and community facilities. Even if every soul in Dun Laoghaire suddenly found themselves homeless, legally not a penny could be taken from levies to spend on it.

So spending as much as possible on an overblown white elephant represents good value rather than building a functional library and utilising the balance on other infrastructure?

JayRoc

Bits_n_Bobs wrote: »

So spending as much as possible on an overblown white elephant represents good value rather than building a functional library and utilising the balance on other infrastructure?

At the risk of sounding like an aul' lad, what was so bad about the old carnegie library? I quite liked it. Perhaps some extension work, at a million tops, could have been done on it, bob's yer uncle. 35 odd million saved for better things

CatFromHue

JayRoc wrote: »

At the risk of sounding like an 'aul lad, what was so bad about the old carnegie library? I quite liked it. Perhaps some extension work, at a million tops, could have been done on it, bob's yer uncle. 35 odd million saved for better things

It was too small, smaller than the current Dalkey library (which i think is the smallest library in DL, certainly out of DL, Blackrock, and Deansgrange), I'd say the kids section of the Lexicon is about the same size as it.

It was in need of an upgrade for a good while.

Edit: the free space and chairs for people to come in and read a book or whatever (as in not using the study desks or computers) is multiple the size of all the space in the old library. These spaces are used quite alot too.

At this moment in time on the middle floor there's about 9 or 10 people sitting down just reading books away from any desk and about 55 using the desks/computers. There desk space on the top floor is usually quite full and there is more people readng and using the desk space downstairs too. I'd reckon maybe a third of the people at the study desks/computers are school kids too.

Oh and the kids section is very busy

Second edit: while there's a housing crisis in Dublin what's the point of building if there are no services/facilites for people to use. I can see during the Summer months the green area around the library being used for various things for children.

Larbre34

Bits_n_Bobs wrote: »

So spending as much as possible on an overblown white elephant represents good value rather than building a functional library and utilising the balance on other infrastructure?

It seems to be what the Council think. Id agree with you on spreading the wealth, but then I think the LexIcon still should be bulldozed.

EricPraline

Larbre34 wrote: »

The Lexicon was built (for good or ill) using some of the development levies built up by DLR over the last many years. Those levies can only be spent on facilities like roads, water supply and drainage and parks and community facilities. Even if every soul in Dun Laoghaire suddenly found themselves homeless, legally not a penny could be taken from levies to spend on it.

True regarding housing. But these levies were collected across the quite extensive area covered by DlrCoco, and were intended for "local" services. So it's not unreasonable to expect that the community facilities should have been more evenly distributed across the entire area, rather than committing such a large amount to a single facility in a single area. A less ambitious and more pragmatic project in Dun Laoghaire, combined with improved facilities and infrastructure in other areas, would have been far more palatable for many people.

RainyDay

Larbre34 wrote: »

Yes they do, theres a suite of very expensive party rooms for Councillors in the old Town Hall part of the County Hall and another smaller shared office in Dundrum.

Party rooms aren't offices. They're not for individuals. And I'm curious as to what makes these particular rooms 'very expensive' over and above the rest of County Hall. Is there gold taps on the jacuzzis or something?

Larbre34 wrote: »

The Lexicon was built (for good or ill) using some of the development levies built up by DLR over the last many years.

It was part funded by central government.

CatFromHue wrote: »

It was too small, smaller than the current Dalkey library (which i think is the smallest library in DL, certainly out of DL, Blackrock, and Deansgrange), I'd say the kids section of the Lexicon is about the same size as it.

It was in need of an upgrade for a good while.

Edit: the free space and chairs for people to come in and read a book or whatever (as in not using the study desks or computers) is multiple the size of all the space in the old library. These spaces are used quite alot too.

At this moment in time on the middle floor there's about 9 or 10 people sitting down just reading books away from any desk and about 55 using the desks/computers. There desk space on the top floor is usually quite full and there is more people readng and using the desk space downstairs too. I'd reckon maybe a third of the people at the study desks/computers are school kids too.

Oh and the kids section is very busy

Second edit: while there's a housing crisis in Dublin what's the point of building if there are no services/facilites for people to use. I can see during the Summer months the green area around the library being used for various things for children.

And along with all that, it was fairly inaccessible for people with disabilities, with no room for further expansion, given the surrounding properties.

Larbre34

RainyDay wrote: »

Party rooms aren't offices. They're not for individuals. And I'm curious as to what makes these particular rooms 'very expensive' over and above the rest of County Hall. Is there gold taps on the jacuzzis or something?

You could argue that an open plan office in any environment is not for individuals, yet it is in effect a persons office.


What makes the Town Hall party rooms very expensive is that they were renovated in 2011/12 at a time when money was being savagely cut all over the shop, and they were installed in a listed part of the building which meant the quality of finish and craftsmanship in the refit had to be of a high standard. Sounds a bit posh during a national bankruptcy if you ask me. And no, I believe stainless steel was conceded for the jacuzzis.

RainyDay

Larbre34 wrote: »

You could argue that an open plan office in any environment is not for individuals, yet it is in effect a persons office.


What makes the Town Hall party rooms very expensive is that they were renovated in 2011/12 at a time when money was being savagely cut all over the shop, and they were installed in a listed part of the building which meant the quality of finish and craftsmanship in the refit had to be of a high standard. Sounds a bit posh during a national bankruptcy if you ask me. And no, I believe stainless steel was conceded for the jacuzzis.

So just the party rooms were renovated in 2011/2012? Not other parts of the town hall?

CatFromHue

About 55/56 people at the study desks/computers, 9 sitting down reading by themselves, a good few in the kids section, and then there's a few people browsing the books too at the moment.

Hoop66

I like the building. The only thing it blocks, coming for the east, is the DL shopping centre; I can live with that.

From out on the pier it looks fantastic.

josip

We had clients over from the UK for meetings yesterday.
Went for lunch in Mao.
When the library came in sight, they stopped walking, pointed and asked "What is that?"
"It's a library"
They said nothing.
Just raised eyebrows, bemused smiles and a jaw agape.
I could tell they were impressed.

Larbre34

Hoop66 wrote: »

I like the building. The only thing it blocks, coming for the east, is the DL shopping centre; I can live with that.

From out on the pier it looks fantastic.

From high atop the Kish Bank Lighthouse it looks even better. Tiny, but better.

Schadenfreudia

Wonderful building - whether viewed from the inside or outside. A great addition to Town.

Larbre34

No lets be clear, the range of services is a good addition, its even in a great location, but the building itself is a blight.

Seaswimmer

Larbre34 wrote: »

No lets be clear, the range of services is a good addition, its even in a great location, but the building itself is a blight.

In your opinion...:D