Windhoek
The University of Namibia (Unam) has dismissed reports that a water leakage in the library at its main campus caused considerable damage to books and computers.
Staff that declined to be identified – as they are not the university’s official spokespeople – had said the damage would cost no less than N$2 million to repair.
When library staff showed up for work recently they were welcomed by water on the first floor and the basement, where the special collection of books is stored.
When New Era visited the campus two notice signs saying: “Library temporarily closed”, were pasted on the library doors and students were seated on the stairs in front of the building, with some expressing frustration at the situation.
Only library staff was allowed in and out of the building. One staff member confirmed to New Era that there was still water on the first floor and the basement and that the electricity tripped because of this.
Students, who spoke to this newspaper, said they were not informed that the library was closed and would have made other alternatives to do their work or study, while others said they had tests and lessons in a few hours and needed to urgently access the library.
However, Unam spokesperson John Haufiku said a circular was sent out to everyone informing them about the situation at the library.
“It’s not true that there was damage, because of this. There was a leak in the basement due to a water pipe that burst,” Haufiku said.
“The only damage that was there was that water went into the carpet and water was being sucked out of the carpet. The library was closed because the process of sucking water out of the carpet is noisy. By 14h00 the library was open again,” stated Haufiku.
“Not even a N$100 dollar was lost in the process and we keep our special collection in the basement, stored in metal drawers,” he stressed.
He confirmed though that the electricity tripped due to the leaking water from the burst pipe and that the library circulation desk was not operational from some time because the computer was off.