Great Norwegian Encyclopedia

Last updated
Great Norwegian Encyclopedia (Store norske leksikon)
The complete last edition of Aschehoug og Gyldendals Store norske leksikon.JPG
The complete last edition of Ashehoug og Gyldendals Store Norske Leksikon
CountryNorway
LanguageNorwegian
Disciplinenon-fiction, encyclopedia
PublisherGreat Norwegian Encyclopedia Association (Foreningen Store norske leksikon)
Published1978 (1978)–present
Website snl.no

The Great Norwegian Encyclopedia (Norwegian : Store Norske Leksikon, abbreviated SNL) is a Norwegian-language online encyclopedia. [1]

Contents

The online encyclopedia is among the most-read Norwegian published sites, with more than two million unique visitors per month. [2]

Paper editions 1978–2007

The SNL was created in 1978, when the two publishing houses Aschehoug and Gyldendal merged their encyclopedias and created the company Kunnskapsforlaget. [3]

Up until 1978 the two publishing houses of Aschehoug and Gyldendal, Norway's two largest, had published Aschehougs konversasjonsleksikon  [ no ] and Gyldendals konversasjonsleksikon  [ no ], respectively. The respective first editions were published in 1907–1913 (Aschehoug) and 1933–1934 (Gyldendal). [4]

The slump in sales for paper-based encyclopedias around the turn of the 21st century hit Kunnskapsforlaget hard, but a fourth edition of the paper encyclopedia was secured by a grant of ten million Norwegian kroner from the foundation Fritt Ord in 2003. The fourth edition consisted of 16 volumes, a total of 12,000 pages and 280,000 entries. [5]

List of paper editions

Online encyclopedia

The online edition of SNL was launched in 2000, and had both private and institutional subscribers. The paywall was removed on 25 February 2009, and the online encyclopedia became free to use. [7]

On 12 March 2010, Kunnskapsforlaget announced that they would close the online encyclopedia because of lacklustre sales and failing revenue. It was also announced that the articles would not be given to the Wikimedia Foundation, with chief editor Petter Henriksen stating that: "It is important that the people behind the articles remain visible". [8]

In 2011, the foundations Fritt Ord and Sparebankstiftelsen DNB acquired the encyclopedia, hired Anne Marit Godal as the new chief editor and established a new organisation, assisted by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and Norwegian Non-Fiction Writers and Translators Association. [9] In 2014 Foreningen Store norske leksikon ('the Great Norwegian Encyclopedia Association') was established; members of the association are Norwegian universities and other non-profit organisations. [10] In 2016 Erik Bolstad  [ no ] became the new chief editor. [11]

As of 2019, the SNL has around 200,000 articles online, updated by approximately 800 affiliated academics. The SNL accepts contributions from users, but all changes to the articles are verified by a topic expert before publication. [12]

Related Research Articles

<i>Norsk biografisk leksikon</i> Norwegian biographical encyclopedia

Norsk biografisk leksikon is the largest Norwegian biographical encyclopedia.

Kunnskapsforlaget is a Norwegian publishing company based in Oslo.

Anders Krogvig was a Norwegian librarian, writer, literary consultant and critic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edvard Beyer</span> Norwegian historian

Edvard Freydar Beyer was a Norwegian literary historian, literary critic, and professor at the University of Oslo from 1958 to 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carl Oscar Munthe</span> Norwegian military officer and historian

Carl Oscar Munthe was a Norwegian military officer and historian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gerhard Munthe</span> Norwegian painter and illustrator (1849–1929)

Gerhard Peter Frantz Munthe was a Norwegian painter and illustrator.

Hartvig Andreas Munthe was a Norwegian military officer, engineer and genealogist.

John Christian Munthe Sanness was a Norwegian historian and politician for the Labour Party. He is known as the director of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs from 1960 to 1983, professor at the University of Oslo from 1966 to 1983 and chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee from 1979 to 1981.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waldemar Christofer Brøgger (writer)</span>

Waldemar Christofer Brøgger was a Norwegian novelist, journalist, translator and editor.

Arne Ording was a Norwegian historian and politician for Mot Dag and the Labour Party.

Preben Hempel Munthe was a Norwegian economist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hans Ording</span> Norwegian theologian

Hans Nielsen Hauge Ording was a Norwegian theologian.

Arve Solstad was a Norwegian newspaper editor.

Fritt Ord Award consists of two prizes awarded by the Fritt Ord Foundation. Two prizes are awarded in support of freedom of speech and freedom of expression; the Fritt Ord Award and the Fritt Ord Honorary Award . These are awards are distributed annually during the month of May in connection with the anniversary of the liberation of Norway at the end of World War II in May 1945. Prizes are awarded to one or more persons or organizations that have contributed to areas where the organization works, especially in the work of freedom of expression. In addition to a monetary reward, the award includes a statue by sculptor Nils Aas.

Anne-Lisa Amadou was a Norwegian literary researcher.

Hodet over vannet is a Norwegian comedy thriller film by director Nils Gaup. It became a big success at the Norwegian box office. In 1993, it was one of the ten most seen films in Norwegian movie theaters. In the year after, 1994, it won the Amanda Award for Best Norwegian Film in Theatrical Release.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harald L. Tveterås</span> Norwegian librarian and author

Harald Ludvig Tveterås was a Norwegian librarian and author.

Sigmund Strømme was a Norwegian literary scholar and publisher.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sidsel Dalen</span>

Sidsel Dalen is a Norwegian journalist and crime fiction writer.

Petter Henriksen is a Norwegian musician and publisher.

References

  1. ↑ About the Great Norwegian Encyclopedia (English)
  2. ↑ SNL annual report 2018 (Norwegian)
  3. ↑ Bakke, Sven Ove; Hobbelstad, Inger Merete; Kvalshaug, Vidar; Nilsen, Morten Ståle (2012). Norske klassikere. Bøker, filmer, musikk, radio og TV fra 1945 til i dag (in Norwegian). Oslo: Spartacus. p. 182. ISBN   978-82-430-0560-0.
  4. ↑ History of the Great Norwegian Encyclopedia (Norwegian)
  5. ↑ Kunnskapsforlages historie (Norwegian)
  6. ↑ National Library of Norway: Store norske leksikon, 1978 (Norwegian)
  7. ↑ Press release from Kunnskapsforlaget, 16.09.2008 [ dead link ]
  8. ↑ Computerworld Norway, 12.03.2010 [ dead link ]
  9. ↑ History of the Great Norwegian Encyclopedia (Norwegian)
  10. ↑ About the Great Norwegian Encyclopedia Association (Norwegian)
  11. ↑ Journalisten.no: I 15 år har Erik Bolstad utviklet nye tjenester i NRK. Nå skal han lede et leksikon (Norwegian)
  12. ↑ About the Great Norwegian Encyclopedia (Norwegian)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.