How to Use This Guide
This guide has been designed to help you create persistent links or permalinks for the variety of electronic resources available here at Odum Library.
Organization
Each tab of this guide corresponds with a topic or database/database vendor and will describe how to locate the permalink as well as any additional link formatting that is required to reliably share with other students, faculty, or staff at Valdosta State.
Overview
Continue scrolling on this page to learn more about persistent links/permalinks including:
- Why Should I Use Permalinks?
- Parts of a Permalink
- When to Proxy
- Shortening Your Permalink
Permalinks
What is a Permalink?
A permalink or a persistent link is a stable URL that should not break or change.
Benefits of Permalinks
TIME
- Saves time for you, your students, or colleagues.
RELIABLE
- More reliable - A permalink is a stable link that should not break or change.
- The link in the address bar of a website can change - breaking your link.
- When using Odum Library databases, the link in the address bar is generated from that specific search and will expire soon after.
CONVENIENT
- Most databases will have the ability to create a permalink.
- Explore the tabs on the top of this page to see how to create the permalink in specific databases and library resources.
- Can be used in BlazeVIEW, web sites, reading lists, and e-mails.
Drawbacks of Permalinks
EXTRA STEP SOMETIMES NEEDED
- Not all database generated permalinks are created equal.
- To ensure that VSU students, faculty, and staff can access a specific full-text article from a library database or electronic journal from anywhere (on campus or off campus), you may need to add a proxy to the database generated permalink.
- Good news! This guide will explain how to find the permalink in various databases and any additional steps. Explore the tabs at the top of the page for resource-specific information.
- To ensure that VSU students, faculty, and staff can access a specific full-text article from a library database or electronic journal from anywhere (on campus or off campus), you may need to add a proxy to the database generated permalink.
Components of a Proxied Link
When creating a reliable link that VSU students, staff, and faculty can access from anywhere (on campus or off campus), there needs to be two components:
-
The proxy prefix indicated in orange below.
-
The target URL indicated in green below.
Proxy Prefix
With the switch to OpenAthens, prefix visibility can vary depending on the database
In most cases, the proxy prefix will look like this: https://go.openathens.net/redirector/valdosta.edu?url=
Target URL
The target URL will change depending on the item (article, ebook, etc.) that you want to link to.
Example
JSTOR provides a Stable URL. This Stable URL is your target URL and a component of your permalink. Notice that this Stable URL does not include the proxy prefix.
- To make this Stable URL (Target URL) from JSTOR, a reliable link to embed in BlazeVIEW or an e-mail, we will need to add the proxy prefix.
The proxied permalink will look like this:
https://go.openathens.net/redirector/valdosta.edu?url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/483319
- If VSU faculty, staff, or students access the link from off campus, they will be asked to log in through MyVSU. If Valdosta State University has access to the article, this ensures that students will be able to access From Knots to Narratives without being asked to pay money to read it.
When to Proxy
Whether or not you need to proxy your permalink depends on the resource you are trying to share.
No Proxy Needed
-
“Open” Internet
Items you find on the “open” Internet that anybody could access without a subscription or login do not need to be proxied.
-
Free Library Collections
Some items may be linked through the library catalog, however, these free library collections do not require a subscription or login and thus do not need to be proxied.
Included below are examples of collections or databases that would appear in the library catalog, GIL-Find@VSU, but would not require a proxy.
- Open Access Journals
- Open Access Books
- Project MUSE Open Access Books
- Springer Open Access Journals (SpringerOpen Free)
- SpringLink Open Access eBooks)
- HathiTrust (Open Access Resources)
- Reveal Digital Independent Voices
- Open Access Music
- Open Access Periodicals
- Singe Journals
- Digital Commons Online Journals
- Free Medical Journals
- Free E-Journals
- Oral History Association Publications
- Wiley Online Library Open Access Free 2013
- Wiley Online Library Free Backfiles
- Taylor & Francis Open Access
- Sage Journals Open Access Journals
- PubMed Central Open Access
- JSTOR Early Journal Content Free
- Highwire Press Free
- DOAJ Directory of Open Access Journals
- Bio One Free
- Georgia Government Publications
- U.S. Government Information
- Open Access Databases
Special Collections and Archives Collections
Some items may be linked through the library catalog, however, these free library collections do not require a subscription or login and thus do not need to be proxied.
- Online Exhibits (Valdosta State University)
- Vtext (NAMOSRL)
- Fraser (FRASER publications)
- Vtext (Slavery Papers and Speeches)
- Vtext (Odum Library Faculty Research and Teaching Materials)
- IAPSOP (International Association for the Preservation of Spiritualist and Occult Periodicals)
- Open Access Periodicals (VSU Student Publications)
- Vtext (Georgia Collection)
- Vtext (Dissertations and Theses)
- Vtext (Miscellaneous Georgia Publications)
- Vtext (Demorest’s Family Magazine)
- Vtext (Digitized Books Collection)
- Vtext (Civil Rights Collection)
Questions
Want to find a permalink for an item or document?
Unsure about whether a link would need a proxy?
Need assistance creating a proxied permalink?
Use our Live Chat service or contact sepaul@valdosta.edu or jessicalee@valdosta.edu
Instructions for finding the persistent link varies according to database/database vendor. This section of the guide will help you identify what tab to select for finding and sharing a persistent link.
Strategies for Identifying Databases
Icon
Icons for databases can typically be found in the top left corner. It may include the database company name (EBSCO, ProQuest) in addition to the name of the database.
Address Bar
Looking at the contents of the address bar can provide additional clues.
Ask A Librarian
If you have any questions, we're happy to help! Try our Live Chat service to chat with a VSU librarian: https://www.valdosta.edu/academics/library/general/live-chat.php
Permalinks can be quite long. You can shorten them by using a service that shortens the URL.
URL Shortening Web Services
If you need assistance locating an appropriate resource that Valdosta State University has access to:
Contact the Reference Department
Visit our Using the Library research guide
