International Children's Digital Library

Give yourself a present today and visit the International Children's Digital Library (ICDL). The mission of the ICDL is to select, collect, digitize, and organize children's materials in their original languages and to create appropriate technologies for access and use by children 3-13 years old. What they have accomplished so far is amazing - 611 books in over 25 languages -- with the help of the KidsTeam, a half a dozen kids who meet twice weekly to help with the design and development of the ICDL. Read more about the kids' involvement in Technology Review   and  The Washington Times

When you explore ICDL, be sure to check out the search choices in the basic search page. Two options are color of the book and length of a book -- you know kids had a say in these.  Also, use the Spiral Reader when viewing your blue, medium length, make believe book for kids six to nine that has kid characters -- that was also the kids' idea.

Before you leave the site, click on "Become an ICDL Ambassador." There are a lot of ways to get involved in this project:

• Submit "Featured Book" recommendations
• Provide brief descriptions of ways you are using the ICDL collection
• Identify specific language needs
• Promote use of the ICDL in your community
• Identify and/or serve as a liaison toindividuals or organizations that could recommend books for inclusion in the collection
• Serve as a "test site" for software development
• Serve as a "test site" for ICDL use studies