Providing authoritative information on physical activity and sports, the Human Kinetics Library consists of 150 ebooks including textbooks, supplementary monographs, and materials for practitioners, as well as 200 videos of demonstrations of exercise movements, drills, and key physical activity concepts. In addition, the database contains the Human Kinetics Dance Technique collection of 500 videos and 850 audio clips. Publication dates for most titles are relatively current, from 2010 to 2020.

 

Approximately 30-plus sports and other activities are explored, from basketball, baseball, football, and soccer to netball, cheerleading, and hiking. Users will find 30 other topics, including physiology, exercise science, ethics in sport, and active aging. The target audience is instructors, researchers, and students of sport and physical activity–related disciplines. New and updated content is added to the platform once a year.

 

The landing page has a clean look and layout with vibrant colors and attractive, attention-grabbing visuals. The navigation options at the top of the ­homepage provide a variety of ways to access content, with “home,” “explore by,” “browse collections,” “about,” and “for librarians” tabs.

 

A basic search bar appears below the main navigation. An image banner links to a page with information about the platform; below are two blue tiles that offer a deep dive into the Human Kinetics Library and the Dance Technique Collection. Two other tiles let users browse by sport/activity and by topic.

 

To the right of the tiles, a “new in focus” window highlights fresh content. At the bottom of the page, a “topic in focus” spotlights subjects such as nutrition and supplements. A slider of sample ebooks rotates; users can open them by clicking on the title cover.

 

The “home” tab returns users to the landing page at any time. “Explore by” allows them to search by sport/activity and by topic. Clicking on either option leads to an alphabetical list of terms, each linked to relevant content on the site. The results page offers further filter options in the left-hand column.

 

“Browse collections” lets users search either Human Kinetics Library or Dance Techniques holdings. The “about” option offers links to general information about the database, editorial board, featured content, and human kinetics. The “librarians” tab provides a link to the administrative portal, with Counter usage statistics, MARC and KBART records, promotional materials, an accessibility statement, and a help link.

 

Once a term is entered into the basic search box, results load quickly, listing items by relevance, though they can be sorted by title or date in ascending or descending order. For ebooks, the chapter name, author, and book title are displayed, with a preview snippet of text that includes the search term in bold. Title, author, and thumbnail are displayed for videos. Search results can be refined by date range, content type, sport/activity, and topic.

 

Selecting Human Kinetics Library from the “browse collections” drop-down menu opens a page with an overview of the collection with help links, a short video introduction about the resource, links to all ebooks, videos, topics, and sports/activities, a “browse the collection” option, a title list that can be downloaded, and resources for librarians. Human Kinetics Dance Techniques opens with a similar page and invites users to check out ebooks on hip-hop, ballet, tap, choreography, modern, musical theater, jazz, Mexican folkloric, and dance anatomy and kinesiology, with links to videos, images, and audio glossaries.

 

Users can open an ebook to display the book title, author, DOI, ISBN, edition, place of publication, and online publication date. A table of contents links to specific sections and chapters of the ebook. The “search within this book” function brings up all references to the search term within each chapter of the ebook. The font is extremely clear and easy to read. Visuals enhance the text in many ebooks, such as a flow chart of physiological mechanism in the chapter on “Exercise and Sleep Quality” in Martita Lopez’s Exercise and Its Mediating Effects in Cognition.

 

Videos in both the Kinetics Library and the Dance Techniques collections offer basic information (location filmed, length, keywords, and subject). They are high quality and consist primarily of explanatory drills and exercises that last a few seconds. Each video links to its ebook source, which goes into meticulous detail about the benefits, mechanics, and objectives of the drill.

 

Users can create personal accounts to save content and searches in folders using the sign-up function. Once an account is set up, it can be accessed from “my content.” APA, MLA, and Chicago citations are available for all content on the platform.

 

Clicking the “share” button on any content page will bring up a form with options to share content via email, Google Plus, Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest, and ways to personalize messages before posting or emailing. Retrieved information can be saved, printed, shared, and cited.

 

Human Kinetics Library is available via subscription ($3,805 to $10,115) or perpetual access ($17,795 to $47,335), with hosting fees of $200 to $600 accompanying perpetual access purchases. Content updates will be available for separate purchase or included in the subscription price.

 

Human Kinetics Dance Technique is available via subscription ($225 to $635) or perpetual access ($1,340 to $3,795), with hosting fees of $200 to $600 accompanying perpetual access purchases. Content updates will be available for separate purchase or included in the subscription price.

 

Future modules will have a separate subscription/purchase price. Pricing is based on institution size and type. Consortia discounts may apply.

 

Boasting easy navigation, multiple content links, an engaging interface, and numerous search features, this is an excellent resource for anyone with an interest in exercise science, fitness, health, nutrition, and sports—from students writing reports to researchers seeking relevant content to teachers needing help with lesson plans.