Skip to Main Content

Faculty Resource Guide

This libguide provides information on a wide range of issues of relevance to faculty including how to link to library resources, what you can and cannot put into Moodle, Open Content Sites, and Information about new Scholarly Communication Hubs.


Linking to Library Resources Using Permalinks in One-Stop Search


The John E. Robbins Library  has subscriptions to several e-book and ejournal collections.  These can be linked to via Moodle so they are available to students online.  

To locate them, use the library's One-Search Engine by entering your subject terms in the Advanced Search Screen and then using the limiters indicated in the image below.  In this search I was looking for Child Psychology E-books NOT used in Education (i.e. a Psychology class).  To do this I limited the search to books, Full-Text Online, by Year of Publication and Language.  If you use this, you can easily identify relevant e-books - regardless of whether they are open textbooks, open books or licensed e-books.  

Locating ebooks in One-Search

 

Next click on a Title to bring up the Full Record for the title you want to use.  You can get the appropriate link for the title by clicking on Permalink in the Full Record and then Using the URL it gives you (see image below.)  Using this URL you will ensure that remote users are take to this exact page and can click on the collection(s) listed.  Upon selecting one of the collections (like EBSCOHost, Jstor, Elsevier, etc) students will be given the option to enter in their BU Username and Password.  Upon entering this information they will be given access  to the licensed content.  Use this link any time you want to give students access to an electronic resource in the library's collection via a site like Moodle.

FInding links via One-Search

 

Linking To LIbrary Resources: Authetication URLs


It is possible for faculty to link directly to digital library resources from Moodle or Web Pages without taking students to the full record screen in our One-Earch. 
However, doing so requires that you know:

  • To include a piece of URL that will prompt people for usernames and passwords (aka Authenticate them)
  • ›To link them to articles, item records (aka Full Records) or a specific database – dependant upon the publisher or database vendor.

To access library subscriptions - be they ebooks or journal articles - students will need ot enter their Novell Username / Password.  To ensure that they are promted for a Username / Password before proceeding to an item, include the following pieceo of information in front of a URL:

http://ezproxy.brandonu.ca/login?url=  

 

When you add this information to a URL for a specific article, it should look something like this:

http://ezproxy.brandonu.ca:80/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=9603227532&site=ehost-live  

Note that there is a second http:// in boldface after the authentication URL in normal typeface (i.e. Ezproxy). The second contains the URL for an article in an EBSCOHOST database.  It can also be a URL to a Database or Full Record if that is what you are linking to.

Together, they are used to (1) prompt for a username and password, then (2) take people to a specific location on the Internet after they enter a username/password.

Use this whole URL to take people to library funded e-resources.  It is not needed for Open Content on the Web such as Web sites or Open Educational Resources.

Note: 

1. Different content needs to be linked to different ways.  To the right there is information about where and how to link for different publishers.

2. Some publishers such as Science Direct or Periodical Archive Online have URLS that are more difficult to locate.  To locate them look at the top bar of the new window that opens up.  It will be there.

 

Linking to Library Resources: Permalinks and DOIs
 

In order to link to articles in some publications you will need to use (1) the database supplied URL which will always locate an item even when it moves (i.e. Permalinks used in both EBSCOhost and OVID) or (2) use a URL that will be forever linked to a digital object much like an ISBN is for a book (known as Digital Object Identifiers used by Informaworld) 

  • EBSCOHost permalinks are found by first selecting a Full Record then clicking on Permalink on the right side of the record. It will display a full record including the authentication url.
  • Ovid permalinks are found under the Email Jumpstart link on the right side of the page under Article Tools.
  • Similarly, Informaworld uses a DOI that should be used in linking.  This Digital Object Identifier is part of each record and listed after DOI.

 

Publishers that Allow Linking from Displayed Article
 

Another way of linking is by using the URL you find when you see an actual article. This is applicable for the following publishers and database vendors:    

  • Wiley-Blackwell’s
  • Springer
  • JSTOR
  • Oxford
  • Cambridge Journals Online
  • Sage
  • Science Direct  (NOTE: The URL is located at top bar of new window that pops open with the article.)
  • Periodical Archive Online  (NOTE: The URL is located at top bar of new window that pops open with the article.)
  • BioOne
  • Open Access Publishers
  • Other unlisted publishers that you can test with Moodle

You can learn which publishers are responsible for different journals by going to the library's Journal List, entering the Journal Title, and any content we have access to will contain publisher information below.
 

Publishers that Require Linking to a Database
 

One significant full-text resource known as LexisNexis does not enable easy browsing, so there is no way to link to a specific issue of a journal.

Instead, you will need to have students go to the database and follow the instructions below to locate a specific publication in it.

Step #1: At the Database’s Home Page Select Sources

Step #2: Select Browse Sources

Step #3: Select Law Reviews and Journals

 Step #4: Select Specific Journal by (1)  checking it and then (2) clicking on OK - Continue

Step #5: Enter a Search term to locate articles about a specific topic within the selected journal.  As this is the best you get from this database, it is better to just tell student’s to search it using an article title you know is in a specific publication.