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After years of expanding education, Miami University's Children's Picture Book Database has expanded as well, receiving more than 1 million hits.

Valerie Ubbes, director of the project, said she created the database in 1995 to expand education for children in preschool through third grade.

"The picture books equal life," Ubbes said. "It's all about expanding health into wellness."

The database, which holds more than 5,000 children's picture book abstracts, has partnered with Miami University Libraries, making it more accessible to all 50 states and foreign countries, Ubbes said.

"Before, there was no organization," Ubbes said. "It was only organized by card catalog. I used my laptop with a database software to start the project."

Ubbes said her target audience is primarily teachers and educators, and the database's simple structure and option of searching with multiple keywords had created one place for educators to expand their work.

"As a designer and educator, I knew that structure, function and aesthetics are important variables in designing something useful for people," Ubbes said. "In the design of the database, I knew that my functional purpose was to give more people access to books for their own purposes."

Ubbes explained the project began with about 3,000 abstracts, and now that it's grown to more than 5,000, Ubbes is looking to expand.

"I am currently seeking funding to support my commitment to health literacy," Ubbes said.

"I'm interested in upgrading multicultural and ethnic connections into the database so we can learn more about cultural representations in picture books as an art form and as an artifact of different cultures."

Because of her commitment, Ubbes is a 2008 HEDIR Technology Award recipient, which is given to a health educator who has made outstanding contributions to the profession through technology. In 2006 the International Society recognized the database as one of "101 Best Web Sites for Elementary Teachers" for Technology in Education.

"My commitment and interest in literacy, education, and health, especially quality of life, are unending," Ubbes said. "I am humbled and thrilled that people have found the database to be a useful tool."