While not library related, this is pretty neat news. The Boy Scouts of America have started an Open Source Initiative. This from the official site:

Welcome to the Boy Scouts of America Open Source Initiative. The Boy Scouts of America Open Source Software Website serves as a centralized resource where the Scouting Community can focus their efforts and resources in an efficient manner. The OSI Project provides a platform where the community of Scouting volunteers can work together with the Open Source Community towards the creation of software designed to meet the unique needs required to support the activities of Scouting.

In the tradition of the Open Source Movement, the resources of the OSS Website are “Open” to the community. We welcome the participation of organizations who face the same sort of technology issues that we do. Many of the challenges faced by the local Boy Scout Councils, and their volunteers, are the same challenges that other non-profit organizations deal with every day.

The Boy Scouts of America wish to express our thanks and greatest admiration to the Open Source Community. Without the efforts made by the volunteers and advocates of Open Source Software, the Boy Scouts of America OSI Project and the OSS Website would not have been possible. The Open Source Community calls new entries into the Community “converts”. We have listened, we have learned, and we have been converted, thank you. The OSS Website is built from 100% Open Source. In addition to being built from Open Source Software, the OSS Website itself is an Open Source Project.

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 14th, 2008 at 8:13 am by Nicole C. Engard and is filed under Open Source. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.