It is housed by the International Children's Digital Library Foundation and was originally developed at the University of Maryland, College Park.
The International Children's Digital Library was initially launched in November 2002 under the direction of University of Maryland Computer Science professor Dr. Allison Druin and in collaboration with researchers from other fields, such as information studies, art, psychology, and education, in order to better understand children's online habits and to encourage a love of reading and increased literacy.
In April 2006, the International Children's Digital Library became part of the newly formed International Children's Digital Library Foundation, a non-profit corporation under the leadership of Tim Browne as Executive Director and original project leaders Dr. Allison Druin, Dr. Ben Bederson, and Dr. Ann Weeks as Directors.
The Library's ultimate goal is to foster a love of reading, a readiness to learn, and a response to the challenges of world literacy.
[4] Children can search for books by country, language, length, intended age group, content type, and emotional quality, among other qualifiers.