Stable Linking to Electronic Resources

A stable link is a web address that will consistently point to a specific information source such as an ebook, an article, a record in the catalog, a video, or a database. A stable link may also be called a permalink,document URL,persistent URL, or durable URL depending on the resource. You may also use a DOI (digital object identifier) found in many databases.

The tabs within this guide provide easy, database-specific instructions for locating and creating stable links that can be placed into your Brightspace course.

Journal Articles

The tabs in this guide provide database-specific instructions for locating and creating stable links.  If you are creating a stable link for a resource not listed in the tabs, please use the Other tab, which provides general instructions.

eBooks & Online Video

Locate the permalink for the eBook or online video within the Library’s Catalog.

Copy and paste the permalink into your Brightspace course.

Permalinks take students to the item record in General Search, where they will find a link to the item.  This extra step ensures the stability of the links over time.

• Determine if your selection complies with copyright and fair use.
• Scan your selection, including the title page and the page with the copyright symbol. Scanners are available for use in the library. If the material is owned by the Library, you can use ILLiad to request that we scan the chapters for you. 
• Materials not owned by the library may not be requested through ILLiad for this purpose. Please contact your subject librarian to coordinate a purchase request for any necessary items that are not owned.
• For scans of personal copies, items must be owned in their original format, i.e. you own a legal copy of a book or are a subscriber to the journal. Possession of a photocopy (e.g., through Interlibrary Loan, borrowed or photocopied from another library’s holdings or from a colleague) does not constitute ownership in the original format.
• Scanned items can then be added to Brightspace.

A very sincere thank you to the University of Connecticut, for their generosity in sharing the content and structure of their LibGuides, which have been modified for use at the University at Albany.

This LibGuide is adapted from “Stable Linking to Electronic Resources” by The University of Connecticut. The LibGuide is licensed under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license.