Linking to e-resources in Blackboard
How to create stable links to electronic resources
This guide shows how to create direct and stable links to full-text articles in journals and e-books. These links can then be embedded into Blackboard and other services.
A more detailed guide (pdf) is available.
Electronic Journals
Most journals will allow you to link direct to a title at article level. However, it is important that the URL you use is a permanent one which will remain available in the future (for as long as we retain the rights to the journal). The URL displayed in the Address bar of the browser window is often not the link you need to save.
There are two main ways to create stable URLs:
- Using the DOI
- Using URLs provided in the journal record
Using DOI (Digital Object Identifiers)
DOIs are unique, unchanging numbers, designed to facilitate the location and management of digital objects or content, such as electronic journal articles. They will allow access to content as long as you are entitled to that content through an institutional subscription.
DOIs are usually found alongside article abstracts, in the Table of Contents, or at the top or bottom of an article. They are made up of two elements, a prefix to determine who the publisher is, e.g. 10.1109 is IEEE, and a suffix that is a unique code for the publication. The following example refers to an article in the IEEE journal IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control.
To create a stable URL from the DOI it is added to a base URL http://dx.doi.org/
In the example above where the DOI is 10.1109/TAC.2007.906158 this produces the stable URL http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TAC.2007.906158
This method can be used for articles published by the following:
- ACM
- American Chemical Society
- Annual Reviews
- ASCE
- Blackwell
- BMJ Journals
- Cambridge University Press
- Highwire
- IEEE/IET
- Informaworld
- Institute of Physics
- Institution of Civil Engineers
- Institution of Mechanical Engineers
- Kluwer
- Lawrence Erlbaum
- Metapress
- Nature
- Oxford University Press
- Palgrave Macmillan
- Royal Society of Chemistry
- Sage
- ScienceDirect (Elsevier)
- Springer
- Wiley
Other Stable URLs
Other publishers and journal aggregators include a permanent or stable URL alongside the citation information at abstract level. This is the URL to copy, not the one in the Address bar field of your browser.
- EBSCOhost (Academic Search Complete, Business Source Complete, Cinahl Plus with Fulltext, SPORTDiscus with Fulltext) – Includes a field ‘Persistent Link to this Article’ for each article
- JSTOR – A stable URL is included on the search results, table of contents and citation pages for each article
Other Publishers
- Ingenta – Replace the **** in the base URL with the relevant information (ISSN, Volume, Issue number, Start page) http://openurl.ingenta.com/content?genre=article&issn=****&volume=****&issue=****&spage=****
- LexisNexis – provides a Link Builder to construct stable URLs. These can then be copied/pasted to the relevant place: http://bennett.butterworths.co.uk/linkdirectplus/
- Ovid – having found the article you want to link to, select fulltext, then the ‘E-mail Jumpstart’ option. Copy/paste the jumpstart URL
- Swetswise – Replace the **** in the base URL with the relevant information (ISSN, Volume, Issue number, Part, Start page, Year) http://www.swetswise.com/link/access_db?issn=****&vol=****&iss=****&part=****&page=****&year=****
- Westlaw – provides a Link Builder to construct stable URLs. Make a note of the Westlaw citation, then use http://intranetsolutions.westlaw.com/uk/custompages/firm/athens_sso/link_builder/index.html
More detailed instructions can be obtained from the full guide (pdf).
Electronic Books
We are increasingly providing access to electronic versions of popular textbooks. It is generally not possible to link to a particular chapter of an e-book, but linking is generally straightforward.
All of our e-books are included in the library catalogue, and these entries include a link to the fulltext.
Locate the e-book, and you will find the URL appears under Electronic Location. Highlight and copy the URL (do not highlight the text that appears in brackets after the URL). This can then be used as a permanent link in Blackboard and other resources.
Further Help
If you need more help or advice, please contact your Research and Learner Support Officer or the Senior Information Officer for E-resources: Cath Marlowe.
