DOGMATIC IDEOLOGY

Jan from Ebdentown

TO THOSE OF YOU WHO ATTACK OR DENEGRATE OTHERS OPINION AND EXPERIENCE WITH

I have total respect for those people who said they enjoyed the changes. I appreciate their coming forward on a platform where their voice was a minority. I applaud that they could state their view without negating mine. I am thrilled that they made their voices heard. I am heartened that there are courteous people out there with the courage of their covictions, who don't feel the need to defend their argument with a personal attack, or denegrating others views

When you attack the person it is because you have no coherent, logical, argument or relevant experience of your own to share, in support of the ideology/dogma you espouse. Attack the argument not the person!

I have been a member/user of Upper Hutt Library since 1977 I have only had a problem wih Upper Library since the change. It is mentally messy, illogical and counter intuitive.

Very judgemental when deciding because we want genre sections it is because all we only read one genre.
Do some research - into people who have sensory ways of choosing books and are disadvantaged by not books not being logically organised into accepted and expected pattern, categories/genre.
We exist, we are real and we count.

We are not merely being oppositional, it really has grossly effected many of us in our ability to choose books, it messes with your mind, especially when we have to look through all the books we don't want, by author only, only old stock still has icons, most don't, that is tiring and eye and mind numbing, we are not doing it on purpose! It is our truth so stop speaking to me/us as if we could do it, but won't or are willfully resisting change.

No one complained before the change that the Library wasn't meeting their needs.
No one I know has ever said that they had trouble with expanding their reading list or finding a new author, because genre separation was a barrier of any sort.
Everyone was getting their Library needs met. Now many of us are now left out.

So now I/we are not only narrow minded, because we have our own experiences and points of view, but we are in danger of being persons that read too narrowly. Who knew? How insulting!

Who is anyone to have any opinion on another persons choice of leisure or any reading? Where or what gave you or anyone the right to think you could critique my narrowess of my reading or anybody elses reading choices? Or for you to decide for us how widely or not we should read.
Your attitude is akin to censorship, rather dictatorial and very judgemental. Your intolerant tone is not too far away from bigotry. One would think that you have a vested interest?

I find new authors, within a genre I see a spine or cover that appeals, if that author particulary appeals I will go online and research them and the different genre they write in, I never found that an arduous exercise, a screenshot, and good to go.

Over my life I have read across all genre and almost as much non-fiction of all kinds, with a focus on history, social anthropology, philosophy, auto/biography and community led development - all of which I enjoy reading alongside my choice of fiction. I don't feel I am in imminent danger of any narrowing - unless it is my arteries.

I read for pleasure, for research and 'how to” books for art, cooking and craft. To pass rainy days or just because. I read because I love books they are a comfort, I love words, the sharing of stories and ideas, that expand, broaden and grow my person. I continue to do so in a Library that welcomes me by being accessible to me - Lower Hutt Memoiral Library.

Libraries are a mark of a civil society, that wants their citzens informed, well read and well rounded.

I used to come weekly to our Library and took out bewtween 6-9 books a week, every week of the year the Library was open, since retiring, I would enter the Library, chooseing books and leaving the Library within 30minutes . My son also took 3-4 books while there with me. Not now!!

A Library is an opportunity to read what you like, when you like. Free to choose what you will from what's on offer and is ideally accessible to all, with simple systems, a Traditional time tested, inclusive, all you had to do was read, know what you liked/wanted/needed pick it out, take it home and enjoy the read.

We don't have a Library like that anymore - I have a vision of going to get my books out and and the screen telling me NO that I had that genre out last time so I have to go back and choose another genre, lest I become narrow. Surely we should be celebrating that people read, whatever they read?

Libraries are core business and do not have to justify they exist, to crunch numbers, or go on tangents to try and entice people in. All the people in any given demographic who would go to a Library are already doing so. You grow your Library when you grow your population. It is a per capita, socio-economic percentile of any given population that read and use Libraries