Well, I didn't heed the warning contained in this week's assignment, and I fear I will, indeed, become addicted to this site.
I searched for crochet articles and publications. Under the projects tab, I found a couple of patterns for ornaments that I'd like to try, and it's handy to be able to e-mail myself the results. My library does carry at least one of the publications listed on the results page, but I found several with which I was not familiar as well.
This database is a good pattern source for patrons who are already competent in specific crafts, but it also contains a lot of how-to articles and books, so it would be useful for beginners, too. I learned from the "Help" link that the database includes videos and was able to find a couple of how-to videos by doing an advanced search.
Curious about what the database would offer for hobbies that are not crafts, I searched for suggestions for hiking trails in Maine. I did find some articles and books, but I'd like to play with this some more and try to better refine my results.

Maine Newsstand offered a lot to explore. I performed searches on a murder and on the upcoming election. The "narrow results" box that appeared on the right when I was reading an article was really useful, especially the ability to select a specific person's name. The ability to rest my cursor on the "Preview" icon and read an abstract of each article was also a useful way to sort through a long list of articles. Saving the search was easy to do, as was e-mailing an article, and the translation function would be useful for Maine's many French speakers.
Why doesn't Newsstand include all of Maine's dailies? The Times Record, which serves the area serviced by my library, is among those missing. Also, while the ability to search obituaries would be very useful for patrons, including those researching genealogy, my search did not turn up a couple of obituaries that I know ran in the Bangor Daily. I wonder why not?
I have not had an opportunity to assist a patron using Marvel this week, but I'm definitely feeling more confident about my ability to do so.

I confess to a "doh!" moment when I read the week's assignment. Over the weekend a patron requested help with a high school research topic, and if I had consulted Britannica initially it probably would have helped me find useful resources for her a little more quickly.
My Britannica search on hydraulic fracturing turned up a good basic encyclopedia article, but I was especially interested in the "Expand Your Research" box that appeared on the right. The "Additional Readings" link had some very useful suggestions for books and documentaries. The listings under the "Journals and Magazines" link, however, seemed a bit out of date, with the latest article published in January 2011.
The Google translator could be useful for high school foreign language students or adults for whom English is a second language.
The World Atlas and World Data Analyst research tools would be a quick source for answering simple patron reference questions (What is the population of the United States? On what date did Maine become a state?).  The Video Collection could be useful for teachers and homeschooling parents. The links to current New York Times and BBC articles were unexpected; would patrons using Britannica be looking for today's news stories?

Setting up a blog was simpler than I expected, and the Marvel tutorials were quick and clear refreshers. I'm looking forward to the first lesson.