AN initial six-month closure for a long overdue facelift of the Windhoek Public Library turned into two years without books for many avid readers.
Veno Kauaria, Director of Libraries and Archive Services in the Ministry of Education, blamed the 18-month delay on several unforeseen issues that cropped up during the renovations.’It’s just one thing after another … we are encountering so many problems,’ she said. Several problems emerged during the construction phase, forcing the directorate to do extra repairs before scheduled jobs could be completed.In addition, the workmanship on several projects was lacking, and jobs had to be redone. Last year, a tender for the provision of bookshelves was one reason given for the undue delay in the reopening of the library. According to the Ministry, the company granted the tender was unable to meet the specifications, and the tender had to start from scratch.The bookshelves arrived about two weeks ago, but have been criticised as an eyesore by some.’They do not do justice to the building at all … we though it would be wood,’ a critic said of the metal shelves stacked in the library. There was praise too, particularly of the entrance and the renovated spaces below the floor of the library.’People are just keen to see it reopen,’ a commentator added. And yet, the opening date cannot be confirmed, Kauaria said yesterday.’We are hoping to finish and open by mid-April, but given all the problems we have encountered, we do not know.’Other issues that have severely delayed the reopening include the discovery of major roof leaks this year. Last year, the air-conditioning, which ‘was done wrongly’, had to be re-done. In addition, although the Directorate had put in an order for a computerised system to catalogue the books, the ‘order got misplaced’ and had to be redone.Other problems include ‘the tiles were done wrongly … the disabled rails were done wrongly … we wanted a disabled toilet, but that didn’t work out …’, and other unforeseen problems. In February 2009, the library had received N$700 000 from the Ministry of Education for the renovations. At that time already, the Directorate had pointed out that at least N$2 million was necessary to do the job properly. The library, built next to the National Museum in the centre of Windhoek, was built in 1925, and hadn’t received any major renovations since then.
