Inside The Namibia Scientific Society

The home of the Namibia Scientific Society (NSS) reminds you of a king overlooking his people on a hill, somewhere along Robert Mugabe Avenue in Windhoek. But it’s more than just a building.

The library was founded in 1975, but was a place to debate scientific topics which range from archaelogy to ornithology and publish this information. The NSS stores some of the oldest Namibian memorabilia in the country – much like a public library for science with a hallway that flings visitors into the past.

“The library is mostly funded by the members,” librarian Isdor Kamati said. “We also have educational tours, not only here but in other parts of the country as well. Our members are from Africa and even around the world.”

The idea is for university students and professors to come to the NSS and do research on various topics concerning Namibia. There are three collections at the library at the moment – Namibiana, General and Irlich.

The Namibian collection, for example, houses some of the reprints of documents, flyers, journals and other Namibian publications from the 1970s, including an interesting collection of reports which Germans used to report back to Germany about the activities in Namibia.

The general collection features interesting books which any researcher can request. These are biographies of companies, for example Air Namibia, and the history of the Eisenbahn (the railway) as well as the medical history and tribes of Namibia such as the Bushmen and Kxoe/kwe.

But it is the Irlich centre that attracts the most attention. The Irlich collection, named after Frans Irlich, was bought by the NSS for N$2,5 million in donations. “Irlich started collecting books from 11 years old and he would travel around the world, taking along the books he read,” Kamati said. “Last year, we were able to obtain the full collection.” There are also old maps included.

“The interesting thing is that we are starting to go digital,” Kamati told YouthPaper. “It requires a lot of work. Space is a big problem at the moment,” and the NSS is trying its best to preserve the tons of information stored inside the building. They are currently working with a computer catalogue system, a step up from the card catalogue system that used to be around.

Interestingly enough, the NSS has the largest porcelain and stone collection in southern Africa.

But it’s their book collection that is growing by the day. “When people are old, they give some of their collections to us or to the National Library,” Kamati mentioned. The NSS uses the Dewey Decimal Classification System – a system you might have heard of in your information science classes at school. It is a widely used system in Namibia and works quite well.

“Science is quite broad,” Kamati added. “There are so many categories including a bit of contemporary science. Some books are also sold here like children’s books and the Gondwana books.”

According to the chief executive officer of the NSS, Waltraut Fritzsche, “we must recruit Namibian funds to keep floating. We also bring in international topics for the Namibian people, like scientists from NASA to give talks. It’s a good mix”.

Members receive a journal and bi-annual newsletter as well as regular talks and the use of the library. Today, a talk will take place at the NSS about cheetah genetics from 19h30. An excursion will take place at the Gobabeb Research and Training Centre from 13 to 15 October and the public is also welcome to join a public talk on ‘the status of water security in the central parts of Namibia and the plans’ on Wednesday, 18 October.