Breaking Down Barriers Through the Creation of an International Digital Library for Children

A research project, begun in the fall of 2002, expects to tap the potential of the Internet for breaking down barriers and building tolerance and understanding through access to exemplary children’s books from all over the world. The creation of the International Children’s Digital Library (ICDL) is the focus of a five-year project being conducted by the University of Maryland/College Park and the Internet Archive with funding from the US National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS). This paper describes the project, discusses initial research findings and outlines the direction of ongoing research. Jessica Anthony, and Brewster Kahle