Ever read an article in an old magazine issue at your fitness club or doctor’s office, and then want to tell someone else about what you read? Chances are good you can find that magazine with your library card.
There are more than 150 subscriptions to magazines and newspapers on the shelves at the Maple Grove Library. The collection of print magazines that can be reserved within the entire Hennepin County Library system includes more than 1,000 titles.
In addition to print, the library provides access to more than 45,000 magazine and newspaper titles through online databases. With your Hennepin County Library card, you can search full-text articles in powerful databases including EBSCO MegaFILE and MasterFILE Premier from home or anywhere else with an Internet connection. Those databases bring many popular, general-interest magazines, including Consumer Reports and Time, right to your computer or digital device to be read or shared.
The library also has historical and academic magazine databases to help with research, and provides access for regional, business and world news.
In 2013, Hennepin County Library announced its access to Zinio™, an e-magazine service. This service lets you download complete issues that can be read digitally—and, best of all, there’s nothing to return.
Libraries not only have magazines and other resources that are free and easily accessible, but they also have librarians available in person and online to help. Get connected to the by phone at 612.543.6450, or online using the “Ask Us” section at hclib.org.
—Rose Ryan is a librarian at the Maple Grove Library who loves crossword puzzles and says directing patrons to the answer to their reference question is often like solving one.
