LONG-TERM employees are always highly valued in any workplace and for one of the South East’s dedicated workers – who has committed 50 years to her job – it is no different.
Millicent Public Library manager of libraries and cultural services Janice Nitschke this week celebrated the milestone with grateful colleagues.
Ms Nitschke joined the council as a library assistant in 1968 when she was just 18 years old and within six months she took over the running of the library.
She said that while 50 years is a huge achievement, it would not have been possible without the ongoing support she has received from her family, work colleagues, volunteers and the community.
“The love and support I have received from my family has been really precious,” Ms Nitschke said.
“Without the support of a close and supportive family it would have been difficult to have undertaken and achieved what I have over 50 years and yes it is a long time, but you only get out of any job what you put in.
“I think part of being able to be here for 50 years and to work with a really stable workforce, who are always supporting me, is the fact that we are able to do lots of new things and at the end of the day it has been really successful.
“There is always going to be ups and downs, but it all comes down to your strength and the support you have around you – that gets you through.”
Ms Nitschke has held many board positions throughout her decades of service and boasts a long and impressive list of awards and achievements.
Her services to libraries and innovation were recognised when she received the Australian Library and Information merit award in 1996 and the inaugural Crawford award in 2002.
In 2014, she was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for services to libraries and the community.
“I may have received many awards and accolades and I am grateful to those who nominated me, it is very humbling but also nice to be recognised,” Ms Nitschke said.
“However such awards are not achieved in isolation without a team behind you, my staff who have accumulated an amazing number of years – they started as trainees and have been integral to the changes, I have also worked with other trainees and watched them develop either at Wattle Range or further afield.
“When you work for as long as I have, you also have the opportunity to mentor librarians and this has been a very pleasing aspect of my work life to watch them progress to manage metropolitan libraries.
“Just because 50 years are up does not mean that change will stop or innovation will cease.
“We are on the cusp of one of the most exciting and challenging periods of library services with augmented reality being introduced into the library, gallery and local history collection, changes in library design, further development of Radio Frequency Identification System (RFID), the virtual library and how libraries are accessed.
“There are some exciting times ahead.”
