To link directly to a book or item in the library catalog, to a database, or to a specific article from a library database you will need to use a persistent link. Persistent links are URLs that connect a user directly to a library article when they click the link.
Linking to a book in the catalog
To link to a book in the library catalog simply copy and paste the Permalink for the item into your course site. You can find the Permalink for an item near the top of the Item Details page.
Linking to a database
To link directly to a library database from your course page on Blackboard go to the library's List of All Databases page, find the database you want to link to and right-click* to copy the link. Paste the link into your course site. It is necessary to copy the link from this page because those links include the EZproxy URL in which off-campus users access the library databases.
*Internet Explorer - Copy Shortcut
Chrome - Copy Link Address
Firefox - Copy Link Location
Linking to an article in a database
Linking to articles, rather than uploading the file into your course site, allows you to comply with copyright laws and provides the library with more accurate usage statistics.
EBSCO databases call this link a "Permalink" and you can find it in the Tools section of the article or citation page. Locating this link in databases other than EBSCO can be a bit more tricky because it may be labeled differently (e.g. Durable Link, Stable Link, etc.) and some databases do not provide this type of link at all. Also, with most databases other than EBSCO, the EZproxy URL that creates a direct link to an article for off-campus users must be added in front of the persistent link before you paste the link into your course site.
You can manually add the EZproxy URL to the front of an articles persistent link or use the EZproxy URL Tool to automatically generate it for you.
EZproxy URL: https://ezproxy.southtexascollege.edu/login?url=
Each Subject Guide has a stable URL located at the bottom of the guide. Simply copy and paste the guide's URL into your Blackboard course.
