A permalink is a web address or URL that will consistently open a specific web page or online resource, such as a journal article, ebook, library catalog record, database, or web site.
Many library databases and other electronic resources create dynamically generated links. These links are recreated frequently and will not always work to return to the resource after your initial online session. This is why copying the url or link from the address bar for a page in a database or an electronic journal article sometimes results in broken links when you try to use them later.
If you wish to share a resources in an email or by posting links online, you should use a permalink to ensure that you are able to connect to your resources in the future.
A permalink may also be referred to as a stable link, durable link, persistent link, permanent link or document link.
You may be in violation of copyright law or license restrictions if you post content without appropriate authorization or permission. Using permalinks is the best method for sharing articles with your colleagues since this method ensures that only individuals who have access permissions through their employee status can see the resource. For more information about copyright law, please see guides linked from the Copyright & Fair Use page.
Permalinks are also used to help accurately track statistics about how often a journal or other resources is being used by employees. Usage statistics for library resources help us ensure that the content we subscribe to is being utilized and that we are effectively managing our collection and budget.
The information on this page includes instructions about linking to journal articles that Pratt Library subscribes to directly and those that Cincinnati Children's employees access through our UC affiliate access.
The article you wish to share must be available through Pratt Library, UC Libraries, or open access and freely available online in order to be shared with colleagues using permalinks.
Begin by locating the full-text of the article you wish to find. The best methods for Cincinnati Children's employees to link to articles include finding and copying a permalink from our EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS) and creating permalinks using the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) for the article.
The EDS is a new resources that provides a way to search for the majority of resources available from Pratt Library and UC Libraries in the same place. Learn more about the EDS here: http://prattlibrary.cchmc.org/EDS
If an article is available through the EDS, you will be able to find a permalink to the article record. Click the article title in the results page to see the record in the image below.
The box in the image below will appear at the top of the page with the link. Copy and paste the link to share the article.
From onsite links using DOIs seem to work the best, but these won’t work if you aren’t on-site connected to the network or using VPN access from off-site:
How to look up a DOI with the article title and first author: http://www.crossref.org/guestquery/
Add DOI to end of this link: http://dx.doi.org/
Example: http://dx.doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa0802639 the highlighted section is the DOI. Replace the DOI to link to a different article.
http://westernu.libguides.com/copyright/journal-clubs
This guide includes information about how to share resources for journal clubs while complying with copyright guidelines.