The National Library of Namibia (NLN) is the

legal deposit Legal deposit is a legal requirement that a person or group submit copies of their publications to a repository, usually a library. The number of copies required varies from country to country. Typically, the national library is the primary reposi ...

and

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educatio ...

library for

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

. The library is situated in

Windhoek Windhoek (, , ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek in 202 ...

. NLN belongs to the National Library and Archives service of the Namibian government, in the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture.

History

The institution was established in the

Tintenpalast The Parliament Building, Windhoek, also known as ''Tintenpalast'' ( German for ''Ink Palace''), is the seat of both houses of the Parliament of Namibia (the National Council and the National Assembly). It is located in the Namibian capital of Wi ...

building as the ''Legislative Assembly Library'' of

South West Africa South West Africa ( af, Suidwes-Afrika; german: Südwestafrika; nl, Zuidwest-Afrika) was a territory under South African administration from 1915 to 1990, after which it became modern-day Namibia. It bordered Angola (Portuguese colony before 1 ...

in 1926. Items from the ''Bibliothek des Kaiserlichen Gouvernements'' (german: Library of the Imperial Government) from the time of Imperial German colonisation were incorporated and formed the core of the initial collection. It was renamed ''South West Africa Administration Library'' in 1957. In 1960, responsibility for the library shifted from the

Parliament of South Africa The Parliament of the Republic of South Africa is South Africa's legislature; under the present Constitution of South Africa, the bicameral Parliament comprises a National Assembly and a National Council of Provinces. The current twenty-seve ...

to the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government i ...

, and the library now fell under the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

. In 1965 it opened to the public. In 1984 the library moved to the ''Estorff House'' nearby and was renamed ''Estorff Reference Library''. After

Namibian independence The history of Namibia has passed through several distinct stages from being colonised in the late nineteenth century to Namibia's independence on 21 March 1990. From 1884, Namibia was a German colony: German South West Africa. After the First ...

in 1990 the library was administered by the

Government of Namibia The government of Namibia consists of the executive, the legislative and the judiciary branches. The Cabinet is the executive organ of government, implementing the laws of the country. It consists of the president, the prime minister and his dep ...

, and on 1 April 1994 became the National Library of Namibia. On 20 March 2000, the eve of the 10th independence celebrations, the library moved into its current building in

Eugène Marais Eugène Nielen Marais (; 9 January 1871 – 29 March 1936) was a South African lawyer, naturalist, poet and writer. He has been hailed as an intellectual genius and an Afrikaner hero. His early years, before and during the Boer War Marais w ...

Street in downtown Windhoek, sharing it with the

National Archives of Namibia The National Archives of Namibia (NAN) is the national archives of Namibia, located in Windhoek. It was established in 1939 and shares a building with the National Library of Namibia. NAN belongs to the National Library and Archives service of th ...

References

* Johan Loubser (2003). National Library of Namibia. ''Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science'' * (Includes information about the national library)

External links

Official site
{{Authority control Government of Namibia Libraries in Namibia

Buildings and structures in Windhoek Libraries established in 1926 Library buildings completed in 2000

History

See also

References

External links