New Organization: Open Library Foundation Established to “Promote Open Source Projects for Libraries”

Here’s the Full Text of Today’s Launch Announcement:

The Open Library Foundation has been established to promote open source projects for libraries and to foster and support contribution, distribution, and sustainability of the benefits of these projects. The foundation provides the infrastructure for librarians, developers, designers, service providers, and vendors to collaborate with innovative open source technologies and develop transformative solutions for libraries.
The foundation was inspired by the creation of the FOLIO project. FOLIO was announced in June and is now building a diverse community of libraries, vendors and software developers. The goal of FOLIO is to create an open source Library Services Platform that can power innovative approaches to current practice, and encourage new and expanded library services that more fully support scholarly inquiry and knowledge production. The Foundation’s inaugural projects also include two existing open source communities, the Open Library Environment (OLE) and the Global Open Knowledgebase (GOKb).
The OLE and GOKb Communities are joining the Open Library Foundation to leverage the Foundation’s exclusive focus on libraries, the library community, and open technologies and data. Michael Winkler, OLE Managing Director and Open Library Foundation Board Member, says OLE and the Open Library Foundation share a common goal. “The foundation’s mission to foster and support open source projects is consistent with OLE’s vision for collaboration to inform library technology development and to promote the innovation of great software for libraries, created through community involvement.” OLE is contributing developers, functional experts, and community infrastructure to the FOLIO project and helping to build the FOLIO community.
Winkler says a community approach to innovation changes the way we collectively advance the mission of libraries. “By bringing libraries together with developers and service providers, the Open Library Foundation shifts how library technology is created. We want to serve the unique needs of libraries and position libraries to move beyond traditional services to reshape the role libraries play at their institution.”
The Open Library Foundation will make sure the code created from open source projects remains available and act as a “safe haven” for the projects’ output—separated from the needs and goals of any contributor, user or affiliated party. The Open Library Foundation also will ensure that the code is freely available under an Apache v2 license.

Direct to Open Library Foundation Website
 

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