A Library for the World’s

Children

Ben Bederson, Allison Druin, Ann Weeks

University of Maryland ICDL Foundation

Mongolia READ Rural Education & Development

• World Bank funded project run by MECS • Select excellent Mongolian Children’s books • Distribute to all Soum and Bagh schools • Teacher training • Standardized evaluation • And digital access to books

What is the

ICDL

?

• a project of the ICDL Foundation created by the University of Maryland • launched in November 2002 • over

60,000

pages of digitized books • books in

35

languages • • website in

13

languages

1,000,000

users in

200

countries

ICDL

Ambassadors

Albania, Argentina, Australia

,

Azerbaijan, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile

,

China

,

Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, Ghana, Greece, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Jordan, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mexico, Montenegro, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Syria, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Tobago, Trinidad Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United States, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Vietnam, and Virgin Islands • Over 200 world-wide volunteers • share ICDL resources with children, librarians, teachers, and other members of their communities

An Illinois public librarian now offers

Digital Storytime

for children… • • participants are 2-8 years old • offers activity sheets with mazes, scavenger hunts, & word searches

the ICDL is changing a public library

• “I used the ICDL this week for digital storytimes with older children (1st through 6th grade) —it was a complete success! I was a little concerned about the ability of this group to read the text off the screen while I was reading attentive and the experience.

—and wondered whether that would affect their experience of the story —and whether they might be distracted by the text. From what I saw (and I REALLY wished I could have had videocameras rolling again…) they were completely —and afterwards were really enthusiastic about the story They wanted another digital story….. “

Teachers in

Taiwan

support working mothers and their children with electronic resources in

English

… • • English is taught as a second language • children’s books are used for students to read and write their own stories

the ICDL is a tool for second-language acquisition

The ICDL

Kidsteam

…

• 12 faculty, staff, and graduate students • 19 children from U.S., Germany, Honduras, New Zealand • 7 children in our lab weekly • partners in

brainstorming testing

technology, new ideas,

cataloging

and

reviewing

books

Demo…

Mongolia ICDL

• www.read.mn

• Soon…

How does it

work

?

םולש ДЕТЕЙ • JSP on Linux w/ Apache/Tomcat

server

• Mysql

database Škola

• • • Lucene text

index Unicode

international fonts

Javascript & Java

optional

هناخ نامسأ رد

夢中的 • JPEG

scans

stored in multiple resolutions • Optional

log-in

for preferences, bookshelf, etc.

• Administrator website for

multilingual metadata

entry, book management

The ICDL

Partners

...

• authors and illustrators • national libraries • publishers • national and international advisors • other organizations

The ICDL

future

…

• larger international

studies

(e.g., impact on literacy, on cultural awareness, on social communication) • curriculum

guides

(e.g., to using the ICDL in school settings) • adapt

software

for broader international needs (e.g., non-network version, more readable scans) • continue

collection

development (special collections for local communities; special topic collections, e.g., health information; historical materials)

Acknowledgements

…

• ICDL team, Hilary Hutchinson, Anne Rose, Sabrina Liao, Mary Ramos, Sheri Massey, Kara Reuter, Laura Hadley, Tracy Masterson, Aaron Clamage, Ben Bederson, Ann Weeks, Allison Druin, Dana, Tara, Jonah, Genna, Grace, Zeke, Jamie, Oska, Mamae, Camille, Sonovia, Devin, Chamira, Alberto, Alma, Jose Raul, Grace, Max, Sarah • funding, National Science Foundation, Institute of Museum and Library Services, Microsoft Corp., Adobe Corp., Government of Mongolia