Introducing InfoLaunch: A New Name for a Thirty-Year Story

The World Almanac for Kids has a new name. Here’s why it matters — and why the name itself tells you everything.

Every researcher, librarian, and lifelong learner had a first question.

It might have been about dinosaurs, or space, or why the sky is blue. It might have been about Brazil’s capital, how a cell divides, or Taylor Swift’s first album name. The question matters less than the moment. It is that spark of curiosity. Someone, somewhere, decides they want to know something.

That moment is the launch.

For thirty years, educators and librarians have trusted The World Almanac For Kids to be the place where that moment finds a home. This summer, that trusted resource gets a new name — chosen by the educators and librarians who know it best: InfoLaunch.

Why a new name?

The World Almanac For Kids has always been more than a reference tool. It has been, for millions of students, the place where research stops feeling like a chore and starts feeling like exploration. Where a student can learn about place value and Taylor Swift, financial literacy and John Cena. They can also look up social-emotional learning and science fair projects. All in the same trusted, curated, ad-free environment.

The name World Almanac For Kids told you what the product was. InfoLaunch tells you what it does.

The content — thirty years of trusted, vetted, standards-correlated material — remains exactly what educators and librarians have relied on. The same resource. A new beginning.

The name came from you

When it was time to rename the product, Infobase did something simple. We asked educators and librarians who had used it for decades. Hundreds of submissions came in from classrooms and library media centers across the country. A finalist list was assembled. A vote was held.

InfoLaunch won.

That matters. The name wasn’t chosen by a marketing team or a branding agency. It was chosen by people who open this resource each morning. They recommend it to students who do not know where to start. They have seen generations of young researchers take their first steps into the world of information and they know what this product does better than anyone. Our community of educators and librarians named it accordingly.

What InfoLaunch is, and what it does

InfoLaunch is available in two versions, built to work together:

InfoLaunch Elementary serves grades K–5. Through an icon-based interface made for students still building decoding skills, it builds reading confidence and research stamina. It does this with engaging topic centers, age-appropriate content, and grab-and-go teacher resources. Every session builds useful tech skills and research habits. Students use many windows, switch tabs, and check sources. Educators get one tool that meets two sets of standards at once.

InfoLaunch serves grades 6–8. It supports learners through the full arc of information literacy and helps them build background knowledge, run successful searches, and use and cite sources. The user experience is based on the idea that research is a skill you build through practice. It also holds that students build stamina for independent research, one question at a time. Content covers the full curriculum and more. A student can research animal cell structure and Taylor Swift. They can explore financial literacy and John Cena. They can build social-emotional skills with science facts. When research feels like discovery, students come back on their own.

Both products share consistent navigation and logic, so students transition from Elementary to the 6–8 with familiarity. The confidence built in K–5 carries forward. So does the habit of knowing where to look.

The origin story for Infobase

Infobase has spent decades building the most trusted information resources relied upon by librarians, educators, and institutions worldwide — resources that serve 120 million learners annually. Credo Source. Classroom Video on Demand. Learn360. Facts on File. The full arc of information literacy, from background knowledge to graduate-level research, lives on the Infobase platform.

InfoLaunch is where that arc begins.

Before a student learns to evaluate a source, they have to want to find one. Before critical thinking becomes second nature, there is a first question. InfoLaunch is where that question gets answered for the first time — and where the habit of seeking knowledge is born.

The launch is just the beginning.

InfoLaunch is available now. InfoLaunch Elementary is available now.

Current World Almanac for Kids and World Almanac for Kids Elementary subscribers will find the same trusted content they have always relied on. New to InfoLaunch? Your Infobase representative can walk you through what’s new, what’s the same, and how to get your students started.