International Children's Digital Library

International Children's Digital Library. http://en.childrenslibrary.org/

Genre: Children's Books
Format: Database
Recommended Age: 8 & Up

Within the realm of ingenius ideas lies the International Children's Digital Library, first created with the intention to "build a collection of books that represents outstanding historical and contemporary books from throughout the world." Today, the library contains 4,418 books in over 54 different languages and serves users from 228 different countries. After browsing around this site for several minutes, I have officially fallen in love. Upon first arriving at the website, it seemed as though the setup wasn't very kid friendly. There were featured books, newly added books, library news, and other aspects that would really only appeal to adults. However, as soon as one clicks on the icon in the middle, which proclaims "Read books!," one enters the childlike splendor of their simple search. Here the options are endless for children. They can search according to the color of the book cover, according to age, according to book length, and the list goes on. Instead of fiction and non-fiction, children can choose what is labeled "make believe books" and "true books." They can even choose based on the characters within the books, with buttons for "kid characters," "real animal characters, and "imaginary creature characters." Also available is an option for the language in which the book is in as well as a keyword search so that children can search for a particular subject rather than browse the whole collection. The large icons, bright colors, and illustrations that are present on the simple search are sure to help guide children in their search. Even as an adult I find the search options far more impressive than any library catalog I've ever seen, which is of course due to the fact that the library is entirely digital, making even visual aspects important to index. Another neat search feature is their organization of award books, as well as several collections they've put into "exhibitions", which focus on themes such as friendship or overcoming obstacles. If one dares go into the advanced search, even more options are available, such as the country of origin, the rating, and the subject.

What makes this database even better than most is that one isn't merely searching for what is available from another location. Everything is available in an instant for free. One merely has to click on the desired book, and the layout of the entire book is spread out right before your eyes. Click on the first page, and there it appears. Is the text too small? Zoom in. Is it too big? Zoom out? If you don't want to do those you have the option to just click on the box around the text and just the text will zoom in rather than the whole page. Do you need to read it in another language? That's an option too! You don't even have to click a next button, but can just click the page itself to go on to the next page. Conveniently as well, the entire page fits within the screen, so you don't have to annoyingly scroll up and down to get the whole picture. In addition, one can choose either a single page view or a double page view. The only problem I encountered within my search was finding the language options once I had clicked on the book. I clicked on a book that was written in Dutch, yet once I was reading the book there was no option to read it in English. I had to go back to the "about the book" section to see the available languages and click on it from there. After encountering that, I have a feeling many children will encounter frustration with this. How disappointing would it be for a ten year-old to see a book and click on it only to discover that they have no idea what's being said? Besides that, however, I give this database a raving review and recommend it for children ages eight and up, as they've got the appropriate problem solving skills at this age to be able to navigate the database. One thing's for sure, though, this database will not only be enjoyable for children, but for parents, teachers, and librarians as well. It's the perfect tool to introduce to children, and comes at no expense. All I can say is, utilize this tool! Take a look around! See for yourself...you'll love it!

Ewing, R. (2010, March 2). International Children's Digital Library. Retrieved May 4, 2010 from http://rdlr.org/2010/03/02/international-childrens-digital-library/.

Ewing's review is both thorough and informative, and she gives both the negative and positive aspects of the site with an overall positive review. She describes the Simple Search feature interface as "bright, colorful, easy to use, and provides a number of unique browsing options," yet she also offers tips for improvement: "1) make it easier to find from the home page; 2) add a search reset button to clear search results; and 3) add a button to return to search results from the Book Viewer." Ewing even discussed a feature that I didn't even notice, which allows two different book viewers to be downloaded, one in a spiral format and the other in a comic book format. Perhaps what is most impressive about her review was the provision of her own book recommendations as well as a wrap-up chart which rates such overall aspects as metadata quality, asset quality, and overall design. This review was incredibly helpful. I wouldn't hesitate to visit her site again for reviews on other digital libraries.