Red Hat Center, UNC-CH join forces with $4 million gift to launch ibiblio.org

CHAPEL HILL -- September 11, 2001 -- Red Hat Center, a private foundation established to champion the free exchange of ideas, today (Sept. 11) announced a five-year collaborative project with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The project, funded with the center’s $4 million gift to the university, will launch a new World Wide Web site called ibiblio (www.ibiblio.org).

Dubbed "The Public's Library" by organizers, ibiblio will offer software archives, music archives, large text database projects and special exhibits. The site is dedicated to maintaining the open source philosophy in the development and management of its collections.

Some of the Internet's most respected and most-used software archives reside on ibiblio. Organizers say ibiblio will become the largest collection of freely available and publicly accessible information on the Web.

"ibiblio is a unique community of contributors sharing tricks of the trades across disciplines," said Paul Jones, professor of information and library science at UNC-CH. Jones founded ibiblio and MetaLab, an earlier and pioneering Web site based at the university. "When we at MetaLab came up with the idea for ibiblio, we were intent on keeping a close relation to the open source model in the compilation and sharing of collections. We have compiled items as varied as KGB archives, material from an international chemistry society and Cajun folk music, all for the purpose of sharing information with everyone -- hence the title 'the public's library.'"”

Bob Young, co-founder of Red Hat Inc. and chairman of Red Hat Center, said the gift to ibiblio is perfectly aligned with the center's goals. “

"ibiblio holds true to Red Hat Center's mission of advancing and promoting the principles underlying the open source movement -- most notably, the free and robust exchange of information and the development of technology that is both publicly accessible and comprehensible,"”he said.

Red Hat Center and UNC-CH launched the Web site today on the university campus with remarks by Roger McGuinn, a musician formerly with the Byrds who testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee this summer on musical copyright issues.

Also participating were Young, Jones and UNC-CH Chancellor James Moeser. Attendees saw and heard videos and recordings such as the site's new collection from Goldband records. “

"We pride ourselves as a university on the forefront of technology, and have been delighted with the success that MetaLab has experienced over the past eight years," Moeser said. With the gift from Red Hat Center, ibiblio will increase its already unprecedented collection and share its content with an even broader segment of the public.”

Red Hat Center was endowed by Young and Marc Ewing, the founders of Red Hat Inc. in Durham. The center was founded in January to create a framework to apply the open source philosophy to other fields. The center aims to aid in the promotion of open communication between developers, users, public policy leaders and businesses.

The gift to UNC-CH is the center's largest to date. More information about the center is available at www.rhcenter.org.

For Immediate Release
Contact: Jennifer Horney
Director of Public Relations
Red Hat Center
jen@rhcenter.org
919-549-8388 x225
919-549-8449 (fax)