PERSISTENT URLS What? Why?? And How??? Ann Barrett Health Sciences Librarian September 1, 2011 Dal Libraries UnZipped Lightning Information Sessions for Faculty & Researchers

Ever sent (or posted) a URL to students or colleagues that just wouldn’t work? The URL is probably not ‘persistent’, or ‘durable’

WHAT are persistent URLs? A "persistent link" or a "durable URL" is a link that does not expire or change over time. Persistent links are often used to link to academic articles, search results, or e-books. Frequently needed with subscription based resources.

WHY use persistent URLs? Eliminate the “This link doesn’t work!” syndrome Allows you to create URLs that work ON and OFF campus Helps you work within fair dealing guidelines Keeps you within the license agreement between Dalhousie and the publisher/vendor These links should work from year to year in your OWL or course space

HOW to make them? – there are 2 ways Method 1: from a Dalhousie Libraries database Any of the Dalhousie Libraries databases offer either (or both): A “Permalink” feature to create persistent URLs button that has a persistent link feature Online Tutorials: Persistent URLs: What are they? Persistent URLs: How to make them.

Method 1: Creating persistent URLs from Dalhousie databases like… Proquest Ebsco WorldCat Local Pubmed

EBSCO

PROQUEST

PUBMED

WorldCat Local

Method 2: Creating persistent URLs from Dalhousie Libraries eJournals lookup Citation Linker… Online Tutorials: Persistent URLs: What are they? Persistent URLs: How to make them.

The problem of long URLs… Tiny URL can take this… and make it into this. A1FH8K15TTKQAABI7TL4VTVBEV1B1JRDUAF9 R ?func=full-set- set&set_number=007098&set_entry= &format=999

That’s it in a nutshell. Any questions? Dal Libraries UnZipped Lightning Information Sessions for Faculty & Researchers