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From June 2016, the Dictionary of Sydney will enter into an exciting new partnership with the State Library of New South Wales. With assistance from the Dictionary’s long-time supporter, the City of Sydney, the Dictionary will move its main website to a new platform at the library. The library will preserve and maintain the Dictionary of Sydney website, ensuring that we can all enjoy the Dictionary of Sydney for many more years to come.

According to the Dictionary, since it first started in 2009 over 1.5 million words have been published including 940 entries, 4,217 multimedia items, 12,735 entities and 38,639 factoids. With a free mobile app, resources for schools linked to the national history curriculum and regular local radio spots on Sydney’s history, their audience continues to grow.

The City of Sydney has provided cash and in-kind support to help transfer the Dictionary’s website to the State Library of NSW. After December, with the Dictionary’s website safely housed at the library, the City will no longer fund the organisation on an annual basis. The Dictionary of Sydney will continue to work with their existing partners while pursuing new opportunities for collaboration and funding. You can read more about the transition at the City of Sydney – ‘Past and future of Sydney’s history secured.’

The History Council of NSW has enjoyed a fruitful cultural partnership with the Dictionary of Sydney this past three years. Nicole Cama, our Executive Officer, has written a letter of support for the Dictionary, noting:

The Dictionary of Sydney is more than just articles – it is a comprehensive network of linked data and historical material. The database enables the Dictionary to present accessible, engaging historical content and is an important part of the growing discipline that is digital history. There is multimedia in the Dictionary that is not digitised anywhere else, demonstrating that like repositories such as the National Library of Australia’s Trove, the Dictionary is a hub of cultural data.

What countless volunteers and Dictionary of Sydney staff have created, in the end, is a diverse, multi-layered network of connections between people and place. And like all cultural assets it needs to be fostered, supported and funded. The President, Emeritus Professor David Carment, joins me in saying the History Council of NSW looks forward to working with the Dictionary of Sydney in its new entity in the years to come.

History Council of NSW letter of support for the Dictionary of Sydney – March 2016 (PDF 159kb)

Image: The City of Sydney 1888 – Birdseye view, City of Sydney Archives via the Dictionary of Sydney