International Children's Digital Library
Looking for a happy book? How about a book about animals or even a book that takes place in Africa? You will find what you need in this online children’s book collection. Read the books just as if you had them in your hand, print and illustrations on the same page. The International Children’s Digital Library is a joint project of the University of Maryland and the Internet Archive.
The interface allows library users to log in with a user name and password. (not required though) Currently, registered users can choose their preferred search interface and what language the library appears in. Kids can also choose a monster to guard their password. In the future, users will be able to personalize their search results, save favorite books on a bookshelf, and return to the last page they were reading.
The International Children’s Digital Library approximates the experience of reading print books yet features some of the benefits of online text in access and delivery. Book pages are scanned and presented as images, so the pages and illustrations are presented together as the author intended. Children can select different ways to view the book, page by page or with facing pages, so illustrations spanning two pages are not compromised. Additional options allow students to select a linear page-by-page presentation or a Comic Strip Reader or Spiral Reader view, options that allow the reader to jump around and select any page by clicking on a thumbnail version. The interface is very user-friendly, featuring one-click progression and clear graphic navigation, evidence that this has been tested extensively with children younger than 10.
The collection is culturally diverse; currently it includes over 3700 books from 166 cultures in 15 languages. If students choose geographic access to the collection, they can select books from a region, books about a region, or books that take place in a region. As we work to bring geographical regions to life in social studies, helping students browse books by region seems a logical extension of the curriculum. Units involving multicultural literature, comparative folklore activities, and authentic exposure to second-language resources are just a few of the ways this can be used in the classroom.
This digital resource is built upon the idea that stories play an important role in educating students; stories “help children grow intellectually and emotionally, understand who they are, and inspire them to explore the world around them.” By providing an international collection of engaging stories in an attractive, easy to navigate interface, the International Children’s Digital Library is well on the way to its goals.
