E-Library NZ

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PRIVATE EXCLUSIVE TOURIST GUIDE for New Zealand

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LONG TERM MISSION GOAL OF E-LIBRARY NZ
FIRST OF ALL - WHAT IS AN E-LIBRARY
IT IS A DIGITAL LIBRARY SPECIALISING ESSENTIALLY ON NEW ZEALAND MATERIAL.
Below is the description from Wikipedia
Digital library
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A Digital Library (also referred to as digital library or digital repository) is a special library with a focused collection of digital objects that can include text, visual material, audio material, video material, stored as electronic media formats (as opposed to print, microform, or other media), along with means for organizing, storing, and retrieving the files and media contained in the library collection. Digital libraries can vary immensely in size and scope, and can be maintained by individuals, organizations, or affiliated with established physical library buildings or institutions, or with academic institutions.The electronic content may be stored locally, or accessed remotely via computer networks. An electronic library is a type of information retrieval system.
The future
Large scale digitization projects are underway at Google, the Million Book Project, and Internet Archive. With continued improvements in book handling and presentation technologies such as optical character recognition and development of alternative depositories and business models, digital libraries are rapidly growing in popularity. Just as libraries have ventured into audio and video collections, so have digital libraries such as the Internet Archive.

It is estimated that "the world's total yearly production of print, film, optical, and magnetic content would require roughly 1.5 billion gigabytes of storage." Therefore, they believe that "soon it will be technologically possible for an average person to access virtually all recorded information"
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OK thats a brief summary. Of course with every system out there - there are bound to be objects and restrictions and rules/Acts prior and new that powers to be have brought into play to protect their material/ profits/ access etc to
. And virtually every country in the world has a different set of rules.
To avoid our own countries regualtions - material prior to the second World War (1939) is publically available only as we believe this material is now all outside any restrictions and copyrites as we understand under the NZ Acts. Sure we possess a library of printed material (books) just like any other library and will add them to our own database - but cannot be available until outside copyrites. Images from some of these publications that are also outside copyrites may be added to the available e-library for other researchers etc.
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REASON FOR OUR E-LIBRARY NZ
Costs for housing, maintaining, and updating libraries around New Zealand (especially the small communities) is becoming financially impossible by the local councils and their ratepayers. We see these (essential) services being first curtailed and eventually disposed of and their assets (books) sold off cheaply - never to be restored again. Libraries and the knowledge in the past was the corner stone of development and the building of new ideas, inventions, research etc etc - but with the Internet, the wireless communications and the digitsalisation of the written word - this has changed the entire structure of knowledge and ideas and power it once held - just like the printing press over 2000 years ago., and we have to change with technology.

I know that during these changes - alot of material from the past will vanish, disappear or be held back by governments etc for their own power controls and because alot of that previous material was restricted for special eyes only. What the Internet and this modern communication tool has done - is allow or allowed some of those special eyes publish some of this very restricted material thereby awaken many of the public to things going on behind their backs allowing them to expose and remove many of those more corrupt people that held power in the past. Society has had to grow up quickly and become accustomed to the changes and the new knowledge wave that is now available.

Our attempt is just to record some of our own past (NZ pioneers and our early New Zealand history - even the previously hidden or corruptive material is recorded and shared) efforts and make sure that this material held in small libraries, museums and people in the outbacks is recorded and made available in this new format - and not lost or stored away in dust files to be forgotten.