Linking to E-journals and E-Books in Blackboard

In order to link to online journal articles and electronic books you will need:

• a stable URL (also known as persistent links or permalinks) or Digital Object Identifier (DOI) for each article or book
• to ensure that all links you create will be routed through the Libraries' proxy server to permit off-campus login
• the Center for Teaching and Learning's instructions to add links to Blackboard

Linking to E-journals and E-books With Stable URLs

The URL that appears in the address bar can be used to link to many online articles and e-books. However, there are exceptions.

Stable URLs, when required, can usually be found on the page that links to the full-text of an article. The following image shows how a stable URL looks in Academic Search Premier.

Click on the right to make the URL appear above the article title.

In order for a stable URL to work from off-campus it must be preceded by the following proxy server information:

• http://ezproxy.uvm.edu/login?url=

The full URL for the article above is:

• http://ezproxy.uvm.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=20280713&site=ehost-live

Linking to E-journals With DOIs

Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) are unique identifiers for journal articles. Many of our article databases and electronic journals include DOIs as part of the data describing each article. The image below shows a DOI for an article from ScienceDirect.

In order for a DOI URL to work from off-campus it must be preceded by the following proxy server information:

• http://ezproxy.uvm.edu/login?url=

The full URL for the article above is:

• http://ezproxy.uvm.edu/login?url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.prrv.2011.02.001

Now that you have the stable link for your e-journal or e-book, you can add it to your Blackboard Course. The Center for Teaching and Learning has excellent instructions at Blackboard How-Tos.

Always test your link from on and off-campus.

For more assistance please contact Brenda Nelson.