Librarian

Charles Mlambo

Charles Mlambo is the chief librarian of the National Library of Namibia (NLN) and manages a team of more than twenty five Librarians including support and administrative staff.

His main duties and responsibilities include ensuring that the National Library functions smoothly through keeping current information and knowledge for the benefit of the Namibian users.

“We organize, categorize, prepare, and catalogue these materials for easy access. We also recommend material, and help individuals find the information that they need.

Librarians also analyse and organize collections by subject and educate individuals on how to use the library systems to find the information they need. Specifically, I manage the library in the following areas amongst others,” he said.

Mlambo says the love for books and fascination with knowledge led him to pursue this field. “Although at first there was the impression which a lot of people have that being a Librarian was about shelving books and giving out books to the users,” he adds.

Some of the highlights of this job include management of staff, including recruitment, training and/or supervisory duties, liaising with users, external organisations, publishers and authors, ensuring that library services meet the needs of particular groups of users (e.g. researchers, staff, postgraduate students, business professionals, lawyers etc) and managing budgets and resources.