Children's Literature at UofSC Libraries
Children's books are in the Juvenile Collection of Thomas Cooper Library, the Irvin Dept of Rare Books & Special Collections, the South Caroliniana Library and online.
As you search, keep in mind older children's books might not have any subject terms at all while others may include "juvenile literature," "juvenile fiction" or "juvenile works" to help distinguish them. The tools on the Selection Aids page of this guide can help you identify books by topic. Then search Find It@UofSC Libraries. The Award Winners page has some built in searches of our collections.
After opening these searches, scroll down to see the results.
- Use the Location filter > Columbia Cooper-Juvenile to find children's books you can request. Note: The children's books you can read online through HathiTrust are currently not listed under this location.
- Select Available Online under the Availability filter to limit to online sources.
- Add another line to narrow results. Searching with synonyms on the same line? Be sure to capitalize OR between the words and phrases on the same line.
Creating your own searches for children's books? Two strategies to narrow your results
- Use the Location filter > Columbia Cooper-Juvenile
- Add "juvenile fiction" OR "juvenile literature" OR "juvenile works" to an Advanced Search
Want to find articles and other information aimed at a particular age group? Use the K-12 databases.
Reading Options
Request books from the circulating stacks, read online through Hathi Trust, make an appointment to view books from special collections and find online books.
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How to Request Circulating MaterialsYou must request items through Find It @ UofSC Libraries in advance to have them mailed to your home or held at the library for contactless pickup. The book stacks in Thomas Cooper Library are closed.
How to read "Physical use temporarily unavailable" books through Hathi Trust
Once connected to HathiTrust, find the link at the bottom of the page
For titles with temporary emergency access because of the pandemic, the next step is "Check Out." While you are reading, your checkout period may be automatically renewed.
When you are done, be nice to the next reader and "Return Early."
Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Ernest F. Hollings Special Collections Library
Due to the pandemic, access is by appointment only. Users are asked to register and request materials in advance. Details on the department's webpage.
Online Books
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Find It search for Online Children's LiteratureSearched for "juvenile fiction" OR "juvenile literature" OR "juvenile works" and filtered for Available Online
Narrow your results by adding to the search: author or illustrator name, keywords, language, change the dates.
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Tumble Book LibraryCollection of children's ebooks, most with narration, including some non-English titles.
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Classic Books [Library of Congress]Freely available. Read any of these classic titles online.
Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Ernest F. Hollings Special Collections Library
Due to the pandemic, access is by appointment only. Users are asked to register and request materials in advance. Details on the department's webpage.
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Augusta Baker Collection of African-American Children's Literature & FolkloreThe Baker Collection brings to the library over 1600 children's books, together with papers and illustrative material reflecting her pivotal role in the field of children's librarianship.
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Graham-Kennett Collection of Children's LiteratureIncludes award winning books from many different countries, classics, poetry, fairy and folk tales, multi-cultural books, biographies, non-fiction books, and many first editions as well as books and periodicals about children’s and young adult literature
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Little-Myerson Collection of Multi-Cultural Children’s LiteratureIncludes children’s books from and about northern Africa and the Middle East, Oceania, Asia, and the Pacific Rim, 19th and early 20th century books and periodicals, a significant number of geographic series books, books about the folk-lore and art of the countries represented, and a large collection of illustrated editions of The Arabian Nights.
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French Language Children's BooksThis digital collection entails a selection of French language children’s books from the Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections.
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Maurice Sendak and Leroy Richmond collection of correspondenceContains letters, illustrations and other items created by Maurice Sendak, (American children's books author and illustrator) and sent to his friend, Leroy “Eero” Richmond. Sendak was an American Children's book author and illustrator best known for Caldecott Medal Winners, "Where the Wild Things Are" and "In the Night Kitchen."
Nearby Collections
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South Carolina Center for Community LiteracyIn addition to requiring masks/social distancing/extra cleaning of the facility, they are:
-Requesting that you call 803-777-2256 (or email Christineshelek@sc.edu) to make an appointment to visit the center.
-Delivering materials curbside by appointment.
-Limiting browsing time to 30 minutes per guest.
-Extending the length of time that items may be checked out; you now have three weeks.
-Isolating all returned materials for a minimum of 72 hours prior to recirculating them into the collection. -
Richland Library catalogAfter doing a search there are a variety of limits for different types of books (children's picture books, teen non-fiction, etc.) or you can narrow the search by target audience (juvenile, preschool, etc)
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Richland Library, Register for a CardUofSC students can get a card. Details and contact information.