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Contact: Laura Schulte-Cooper
ALSC Program Officer
(312) 280-2165
lschulte@ala.org

NEWS
For Immediate Release
June 9, 2008

ALSC announces exceptional Web sites for children

(Chicago) The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), is pleased to announce the Web sites added this spring to Great Web Sites for Kids (www.ala.org/greatsites), its online resource containing hundreds of links to commendable Web sites for children.

Great Web Sites for Kids (GWS) features links to valuable Web sites of interest to children, organized by subject headings such as animals; literature and languages; mathematics and computers; the arts; and history and biography. There is also a special section with sites of interest to parents, caregivers and teachers and an area devoted to sites in Spanish.  The ALSC Great Web Sites for Kids Committee maintains and updates the site.

“This spring, committee members reviewed approximately 100 Web sites for children aged birth to 14, in search of sites that are outstanding in content and conception,” said Karen Lemmons, co-chair of the committee and a library media specialist at Howe Elementary School in Detroit. “To make the cut and appear on the Great Web sites for Kids, a site must demonstrate commendable quality and reflect and encourage young people’s interests in exemplary ways.  Sites are put through a rigorous evaluation and voting process by the committee before being deemed ‘great’ and added to the GWS page.”

ALSC’s GWS Committee voted to add the following sites in spring 2008:
All Safe Sites - www.allsafesites.com
Amazing Space - http://amazing-space.stsci.edu
Bnetsavvy - www.bnetsavvy.org
Debra Frasier - www.debrafrasier.com
EMuseum at Minnesota State University - www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/index.shtml
Ethan’s Bookshelf  - www.ethansbookshelf.com
FBI for Kids - www.fbi.gov/fbikids.htm
Fun – Family Fun & Entertainment - http://fun.familyeducation.com
Gymnasium for the Brain - www.gymnasiumforbrain.com
Johnnie's Math Page - http://jmathpage.com
Kids Know It Network - www.kidsknowit.com
Mary Jo Rhodes - www.maryjorhodes.com
Ology - www.amnh.org/ology
TeachPeaceNow - www.teachpeacenow.org
Webrangers  -  www.nps.gov/webrangers
The World of Victor - www.theworldofvictor.net
Young Adult (& Kids) Books Central - www.yabookscentral.com

Members of the 2008 Great Web Sites for Kids Committee are: Karen Lemmons, co-chair, Howe Elementary School, Detroit; Becki Bishop, co-chair, Campbell Court Elementary School, Bassett, Va.; Amy Brown, Worthington Libraries, Columbus, Ohio; Robin Gibson, Granville, Ohio; Diana McFarland, Brunswick, Maine; Carla Morris, Provo City (Utah) Library; Marilyn Sobotincic, Medina County (Ohio) District Library; Terrell Young, Washington State University, Richland.

The complete listing of great sites and selection criteria can be found at www.ala.org/greatsites.