The International Library of Children's Literature started providing image data of 323 children's books on the Internet in April 2003 (Japanese only,
http://kodomo4.kodomo.go.jp/web/ippangz/html/TOP.html).

Background
The ILCL spent three years from FY1995 to FY1997 creating and accumulating digital image data of 10,000 children's books published in Japan before 1950. Having obtained the permission from the copyright holders, the ILCL has been providing image data of approximately 1,500 titles within its building since its partial opening in May 2000. They can be accessed and printed out through the Union catalog database of children's literature.

Digital Library of Children's Literature and its features
Among the above-mentioned 1,500 titles, 323 titles are accessible on the Internet under the name of the Digital Library of Children's Literature, as their copyrights have already expired. They can be accessed through the ILCL's website (http://www.kodomo.go.jp). 

The Digital Library has several functions which facilitate the use;

Search functions

• Keyword search by title, author and words in the table of contents 
• Comprehensive lists of titles and authors in Japanese syllabary order 

•  Users can jump to a specific page they want to see. Page numbers are displayed as pull-down menu.
•  Table of contents information is displayed in the left frame so that users can directly access the image they want to see by clicking the indices.

• Commentaries are attached.

Future plan
The ILCL is planning to expand the collection of the Digital Library and make more titles available online. For some of the digitized works, which are yet to be included in the Digital Library, the ILCL has not so far been able to find the copyright holders. This year, it will request a compulsory license issued by the Commissioner of the Agency for Cultural Affairs to clear the copyright of these works. It will also work on other copyright-related issues which need to be solved before the release on the Internet.