Week 4 Hobbies and Crafts Reference Center

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Hobbies and Crafts Reference Center, from Ebsco Publishing, provides full text content for most of today’s popular hobbies, crafts and recreational activities.  The database includes over 740 magazines and books and more than 700 videos.  Your patrons can find instruction and inspiration using this resource.

Warning!  If you are a crafter, beware.  This resource can be very addictive!

The homepage is divided into 3 sections with the search box at the very top.  Categories for browsing are in the middle and at the bottom are featured magazine titles.  On the right side of the screen are featured seasonal and children’s crafts.  Follow this link to a short tutorial on using this resource.

This database is a lot of fun to play in so let’s get started.

Discovery Exercise:

Create a blog posting discussing the following questions and other observations you have about Hobbies and Crafts Reference Center. All resources can be accessed via this alphabetical list.

1. Pick a subject category to explore.  Choose an area that interests you or something you’d like to learn about.  Pick a subcategory too.  On the results page, notice the ‘Find’ box that contains the search terms used.  Does your library subscribe to any of the magazine titles listed?

2. On the results page, look at the projects tab.  What projects would you like to download and try?

3. Look at the “Help” link at the upper right.  Tell us something you learned by browsing the online help guide.