The Namibian Library Consortium (NALICO) has been created as a result of an EIFL-sponsored workshop, 28th and 29th April, in Windhoek, Namibia.

Convened by Veno Kauaria, Ministry of Education, and Charles Mlambo, Director National Library, and under the leadership of workshop facilitators Dr. Buhle Mbambo-Thata, Director UNISA library services and EIFL ex-Advisory Board member and Kathy Matsika, EIFL Country Coordinator for Zimbabwe and currently Advisory Board Member, librarians from all types of libraries and all corners of Namibia gathered to learn about consortium management, and to take their first steps in creating NALICO.

Participants at the workshop agreed that NALICO’s vision will be 'to be a leading consortium supporting national development and empowering citizens through information’ and its mission ‘to promote and strengthen equal access to knowledge through collaboration.'

The workshop resulted in a SMART action plan, listing specific and time bound goals and clear responsibilities on how to realise them, such as drafting the constitution, designing the website/logo and a social media strategy, surveying current subscriptions and identifying training needs.

A lot of output was produced by group work and consolidated in plenary. All subcommittee members are working toward the first general meeting scheduled for the end of May.

“We have real targets, and people to achieve them,” says Dr. Buhle Mbambo-Thata.

Charles Mlambo agrees that the future for NALICO looks bright: "Without the facilitators we would not have achieved that much in two days, but we are more than ready to take this forward. The good thing is that the will is there from all the institutions that were represented, and we are definitely going to make it.”

Our best wishes go to all librarians in Namibia and to NALICO as the youngest library consortium in the EIFL family!