New Kids' E-Books Site Disappoints

If you've had trouble logging on to the International Children's Digital Library (ICDL), you're not alone. The much-hyped Web site, which went live November 20, 2002, hoped to provide 10,000 free e-books to the world's children. But users quickly learned that access to the site (www.icdlbooks.org) requires a high-speed Internet connection and the downloading of two pieces of software, technology that many people don't have.

Designed by a technology team at the University of Maryland, the site is colorful and intended to be child-friendly, but several librarians have been frustrated by its complexity. Tanya DiMaggio, youth services coordinator of the St. Tammany Parish Library in Covington, LA, successfully installed the software and was able to choose a book, but she couldn't turn the page. Sheilah O'Connor, a children's librarian at the Toronto Public Library in Canada hasn't been able to download all the necessary files to view all the current 200 online books.

Ben Bederson, a computer science professor at the University of Maryland who designed ICDL's software, acknowledges that the site isn't accessible to everyone because it requires a broadband connection and at least 256 megabytes of computer memory to operate. And users must install Java Web Start and Adobe e-book Reader software to view the books. School and library computer networks that operate behind firewalls will also have trouble accessing the site.

Created with $4.4 million in grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services and others, the ICDL Web site allows users to view pages of a book in a comic-strip format. The initial library collection includes about 200 books in 18 languages, and targets kids ages three through 13. Books have come from as far as Croatia and Finland, and contributing American publishers include Scholastic and HarperCollins.

"[The site's] not even ready to go out to every home in America, much less the people in Rwanda" and other developing countries that need it most, says Jane White, ICDL's director, who admits the site is currently geared toward scholars interested in international children's books and digital media. White says it'll take about six months until the site is widely available for general use, so until then, eager kids will just have to stay tuned.