Kid's Catalog Web™ An Interface With A Friendly Face

Citation

Smith, K.L. (2002), "Kid's Catalog Web™ An Interface With A Friendly Face", Library Hi Tech News, Vol. 19 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/lhtn.2002.23919faf.002

Kid's Catalog Web™ An Interface With A Friendly Face

Kamran L. Smith

The Library Corporation (TLC) has created a product that is literally come to life. Kid's Catalog Web is a public access catalog (PAC) for young children that features an image of a green robot – named KC – as a guide. Last year, KC became "real" and attended the American Library Association (ALA) Mid-Summer Meeting in person (if you can say that about a robot). KC's incarnation as a real robot is a beautifully crafted costume that replicates the software-based KC – including an antenna on the head, the colorful Kid's Catalog Web logo and yellow buttons on the chest, and a big smile on the face. The costume is made of green cloth that's sturdy, yet soft enough to hug.

"Live KC" was a special guest at TLC's booth at ALA and at the Public Library Association show in Phoenix in March. KC greeted visitors, shook hands, and gave hugs. At Summer ALA, KC also rode in a specially decorated vehicle and greeted librarians at the TLC reception door.

Of course, KC is a fun and important aspect of Kid's Catalog Web – we hope our customers enjoy seeing our robot pal – but he's only part of what Kid's Catalog Web offers. Kid's Catalog Web evolved from Kid's Catalog, a CD-based PAC interface for children created by the CARL Corporation. (TLC now owns CARL Corporation.) Kid's Catalog Web takes advantage of library resources and many of the wonderful resources on the Internet for children. (Kid's Catalog Web is part of TLC's integrated library systems, LibrarySolution and CARLSolution, and is used by over a hundred libraries of all sizes.)

A series of advertisements TLC created for Kid's Catalog Web features young children discussing how easy and enjoyable the product is: "Kid's Catalog Web is cool!" Those ads summarize Kid's Catalog Web's purpose to enhance the library experience of younger patrons, while demonstrating that searching and successfully using a library catalog is fun.

Kid's Catalog Web is an interesting product, because so much work has gone into making it "kid-friendly." It features a brightly colored interface with buttons that invite children to "Explore," enjoy "Best Stories," search "Find It," and view "Events." A careful process of pre-selecting the Web sites that the interface leads to backs this presentation. A "persistent environment" keeps children within Kid's Catalog Web even after they access selected Web sites.

TLC Content Specialist Lori Davies carefully chooses Kid's Catalog Web content that is appropriate, accurate, current, and reliable. Her selection policy mirrors that of an adult library collection. Sites she chooses must be well designed, clear, and intuitive, because children need to be able to easily navigate and find information. Since children have different learning styles, the pages she chooses must have interesting graphics, clear and easily read words, and audio, video, and other interactive elements.

Ms Davies works with one topic at a time, because Kid's Catalog Web is organized by subject area, she explained: "Each time I find an appropriate site, I review it for content, layout, and accuracy. I also check its internal links to make sure they don't lead to inappropriate content. When that's done, I assign an age range (readability level) and add the site to our database."

Kid's Catalog Web has over 16,000 URLs in its database, with Ms Davies adding 50 to 75 new sites daily. She checks the database daily for broken links and discontinued sites.

Kid's Catalog Web includes extensive bibliographies of recommended book titles, organized by reader age. This area functions as an electronic reader's advisory for children who are old enough to use the catalog without assistance.

Kid's Catalog Web also features WebBuilder, a manager that enables the library to change and add content to areas of the Kid's Catalog Web. The library can also customize all content to build curriculum pathfinders, booklists, and selected Web pages, and access reports of sites visited.

This product is definitely more than just the pretty face of KC the robot. But still, KC is a lot of fun and an integral part of the product. After all, how could you not love a character that coaxes out your inner child?

Kamran L. Smith(ksmith@TLCdelivers.com) is the Marketing Associate at The Library Corporation, West Virginia, USA.