Thursday, December 17, 2009

The International Children's Digital Library


The International Children's Digital Library is my new best friend!! What a wonderful site dedicated to the world's children's literature.  I just finished writing a paper on this library for my digital libraries class, and had to share some information about this great resource. They have a collection of over 4,000 digital children's books. Materials are mainly older books that are available in the public domain, or are contemporary literature that the publisher or author have given permission for them to digitize. Their ultimate goal is to have 10,000 books digitized in over 100 different languages.

One of the best features of the site is the simple search they have on the site...this search allows children to even search by the color of the book; what a perfect search quality for kids. Here is what the simple search looks like:

Another great feature on the site is their book interface that allows you to read the books. They have a standard, comic, and spiral reader.

So if you haven't checked out this digital library collection, check it out! It doesn't come close to replacing a real book, but it is another great way to get kids interested in reading and learning!