The Cyclopedia of New Zealand is now online for sharing
The New Zealand Electronic Text Centre has just published the final volume of The Cyclopedia of New Zealand, making the full six-volume work available under a BY-SA NZ licence.
The Cyclopedia of New Zealand was published in six volumes between 1897 and 1908 by the Cyclopedia Company Ltd. Each volume contains information about a region’s businesses, clubs, local towns and people.
The New Zealand Electronic Text Centre provides structured access to the biographical details of around 20,000 people contained in the Cyclopedia pages. Visitors to the website are able to search for a particular person and be presented with information about individuals, including links to appearances elsewhere in the NZETC collection.
This is a significant advantage to many family historians and researchers who have utilised the collections in print over the years. Project manager, Jason Darwin says, "We expect that site visitors will be interested in reproducing biographical details about their forebears from the Cyclopedia entries, and in particular the photographs of people."
While the Cyclopedias have been digitised for re-use, it is important that copyright conditions are clear and easy to understand. Darwin states that "Creative Commons allows us to provide clear and succinct information about the rights and responsibilities of people wishing to re-use material held in our collection, and allows us to overcome the hurdle of confusion and lack of clarity that often occurs when organisations do not mark their material with terms and conditions of use, instead simply devolving to standard copyright law which can be confusing and vague."
The Text Centre encourages communities to celebrate and share family stories. A Creative Commons licence allows further re-use of that material to enrich the lives of other people who wouldn't normally find it on the site, such as the very young and old.
To explore and download the Cyclopedia of New Zealand, visit the New Zealand Electronic Text Centre website.
Front image: 'Black and white printer's ornament' from The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Wellington Provincial District] made available under a BY-SA NZ licence.
Date: 31/03/2009
Web link: The Cyclopedia of New Zealand
