Children as design partners and testers for a children's digital library

Abstract

Most of today's digital libraries (DLs) are not designed for children. To produce usable and useful DLs, designers need to ensure that good design features are incorporated, taking into consideration users' needs. We describe our experience working with children as design partners and testers in building a children's DL of stories and poems for 11-14 year olds, using a concrete example to demonstrate our design philosophy and research approach, The study provides insights on useful design features children's DLs should have, and their importance to children. The initial work we have done highlights issues and provides a basis for the building of usable and useful digital libraries for children.