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Adding Library Resources to Canvas: Linking To Books & Articles

Make it easier for your students to find and use scholarly library resources by adding links to those resources within your Canvas course pages.

Overview

This page describes how to find and/or configure links to articles, journals, films and other resources your students can access through your course web site.

Off-campus access is restricted to currently enrolled TCC students and TCC faculty and staff.  The TCC Library maintains a proxy server for this purpose.  When creating links to licensed material, the proxy prefix (http://ezp.tccd.edu/login?url=) must be placed in the URL to ensure that off-campus users are able to access.  

  1. Find a persistent URL. On the article or journal page, look for words such as "Persistent URL", "Stable URL", "InfoMark", "Document URL", or "Permalink." (See images below for finding this in EBSCO or JSTOR, other databases are similar).
     
    • Is the link already proxied? If the persistent URL contains the term ezp or starts with http://ezp.tccd.edu/login?url=, students accessing it from off campus will automatically be directed to log in using their myTCC login and password.  You can use the link "as is" and paste it directly into your course web page. 
       
    • If you don't see ezp or http://ezp.tccd.edu/login?url= in the URL, use the EZProxy Link Generator to convert the link to a one that will allow off-campus use. Then copy and paste the new link into your course page.

Locating Persistent Links in EBSCO

Access the desired article

  1. Click the title link to see the article details.
  2. Using the Tools on the right hand side, select Permalink.
  3. The proxy prefix is already included, so just copy and use as is.

 

Locating Persistent Links in JSTOR

Access the desired article in JSTOR

  1. Click the title link to see the article details.
  2. Copy the Stable URL
  3. This link does not have the proxy prefix, so you will need to use the  Exproxy Link Generator  to insert it and then copy the New Link created by the generator.

 

FAQ

Why link?
We encourage you to place direct links to library resources within myTCC (BlackBoard), Course Reserves, on web pages, etc., for several reasons.

  • Easy access for students to exactly what faculty want them to use
  • No copyright concerns - the link is to something for which we've already paid
  • Linking provides usage stats - so that we do not cancel highly used materials

Why can't I just copy the address from the address bar to save a link to an article?
Web addresses, or URLs, that appear in the address bar of your web browser may contain session-based or search-based information that causes the URL not to work later. This is especially true of the URLs that appear when searching a database. This is why many online databases provide a separate persistent or stable link in each record for an article.

What is a Proxy Server?
License agreements governing usage of the online resources (including e-journals, ebooks and databases) require that we ensure off-campus access is restricted to currently enrolled TCC students and TCC faculty and staff.  The TCC Library maintains a proxy server for this purpose.  When creating links to licensed material, the proxy prefix (http://ezp.tccd.edu/login?url=) must be placed in the URL to ensure that off-campus users are able to access.  

What is a persistent URL?
A persistent URL is a link that will remain stable over time and allows a user to access the linked document later.

How do I find persistent links in online databases?
Some research databases include a persistent or stable link in the article record. Please note that the terms used and the location of these links in the record vary from one database to another.

How do I know if a persistent URL will work when accessed from a computer outside the TCC campus network?
In order for a link to an article to work on an off-campus computer, it must be "proxied."  A proxied link contains special coding that will allow TCC users to access the article, journal, etc. using their WebAdvisor login.  A proxied link always contains the term ezp.

How can I use a proxied persistent link?
Once you have found or built a proxied persistent URL you can paste the URL into a Blackboard page or other documents.