From cleaner to librarian

Jeanette DiergaardtLong service No odds can stop curiosity and determination. Since the year 2000, Thusnelde //Gamibes has been an employee of Namibia Media Holdings (NMH), once known as Democratic Media Holdings. From 2000 to 2005, she kept the building sparkling while maintaining her own sparkle.Starting off as a cleaner, //Gamibes - known and loved as ‘Tannie Thusie’ - soon made her way to be part of the library, which is named Media Tech. She is currently the librarian of Media Tech and proudly wears her badge of service delivery.“Your enjoyment of your work solely depends on you. By helping people and witnessing their gratitude truly makes me excited to come to work the next day,” //Gamibes says.A moment in her career that truly makes her proud and brings her joy is the revamped space that serves as the library where all old Republikein, Namibian Sun and Allgemeine Zeitung articles can be found. “The newly revamped archives are all thanks to CEO, Mr Albe Botha. Without him, I don’t think the vision would have materialised.”A day in the lifeWhat does a librarian at a newspaper archive do? one might ask. The day starts off as the team of three binds the day’s printed newspapers together, keeping the week’s newspapers on display for all to come for a quick read or for some research. The rest of the day, old newspapers get scanned to be digitised on the NMH system. A tiring and cumbersome task, but indeed a task of utmost importance. Capturing the important printed history of the country. Going digitalAll the editions from 1977 since Republikein started have already been digitised. Namibian Sun, which started in 2007, came at an age when digital was the name of the game. The daunting task of digitising 60 years of the Allgemeine Zeitung is what lies ahead. //Gamibes encourages the public to come to the NMH offices to the Media Tech library to do research and look up old newspaper clippings of family as well as browse the digital library.

From cleaner to librarian

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Namibian Sun 2025-03-12

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From cleaner to librarian

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Namibian Sun 2025-03-12

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