diff --git a/lib/geo_ruby/shp4r/dbf.rb b/lib/geo_ruby/shp4r/dbf.rb
index 976c595..79dd361 100644
--- a/lib/geo_ruby/shp4r/dbf.rb
+++ b/lib/geo_ruby/shp4r/dbf.rb
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ def [](v)
         end
       end
 
-      class Field < Column::Base
+      class Field < ColumnType::Base
         def initialize(name, type, length, decimal = 0, version = 1, enc = nil)
           super(name, type, length, decimal, version, enc)
         end
@@ -33,8 +33,10 @@ def header_length
           @columns_count
         end
 
-        def self.open(f)
-          new(f)
+		# Open DBF with specified encoding (it can also be nil and DBF reader
+		# will use what it finds in header).
+		def self.open(f, memo = nil, encoding)
+          new(f, memo, encoding)
         end
 
         def close
diff --git a/lib/geo_ruby/shp4r/shp.rb b/lib/geo_ruby/shp4r/shp.rb
index 1c6042c..27a867e 100644
--- a/lib/geo_ruby/shp4r/shp.rb
+++ b/lib/geo_ruby/shp4r/shp.rb
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ class ShpFile
 
       # Opens a SHP file. Both "abc.shp" and "abc" are accepted.
       # The files "abc.shp", "abc.shx" and "abc.dbf" must be present
-      def initialize(file)
+      def initialize(file, dbf_encoding)
         # strip the shp out of the file if present
         @file_root = file.gsub(/.shp$/i, '')
         # check existence of shp, dbf and shx files
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ def initialize(file)
           fail MalformedShpException.new("Missing one of shp, dbf or shx for: #{@file}")
         end
 
-        @dbf = Dbf::Reader.open(@file_root + '.dbf')
+        @dbf = Dbf::Reader.open(@file_root + '.dbf', nil, dbf_encoding)
         @shx = File.open(@file_root + '.shx', 'rb')
         @shp = File.open(@file_root + '.shp', 'rb')
         read_index
@@ -56,8 +56,10 @@ def reload!
       # opens a SHP "file". If a block is given, the ShpFile object
       # is yielded to it and is closed upon return.
       # Else a call to <tt>open</tt> is equivalent to <tt>ShpFile.new(...)</tt>.
-      def self.open(file)
-        shpfile = ShpFile.new(file)
+      # You can specify encoding of the table, by default it is not set, maybe
+      # it should be UTF-8?
+      def self.open(file, dbf_encoding = nil)
+        shpfile = ShpFile.new(file, dbf_encoding)
         if block_given?
           yield shpfile
           shpfile.close