WebCT: Persistent Links to Articles and Databases

Did you know that you can create links in your WebCT courses to full text articles found in licensed library databases?

When you create links to full text articles located in licensed library databases in your WebCT course module, students can click on the link and will be taken directly to the article. Students enter the library database but instead of starting at an opening screen they are taken directly to the full text of the article. Article links MUST be proxified so that off-campus students can also be routed to the library proxy server where they can be authenticated and passed into the database. All access to the Library's licensed resources, MUST go through the Rod Library website.

Off-campus students should receive the library authentication screen "A password is required to use this resource". For more information, see the directions for Off-Campus Access into Library Resources. The authentication screen requests a Last Name and a Number ID (enter your 9 digit identification number, 000###### - no spaces, found on the front of  your university ID card). The information is then checked against the library's patron database and if a match is found, the off-campus individual is routed into the database. If the link is not proxified, then the individual is routed directly to the database company and the company has no method for identifying UNI students, faculty, or staff. If the link is not proxified, then the off-campus student can’t access the database or article. Only UNI students, faculty, and staff will be able to access the article through the link.

Not all library databases support the durable or persistent PURL (web address) where you can link directly to the full text of an article. Some databases do not support this linking feature.

Go into a library database and find a full text article. Once you locate an article, copy the PURL (web address) found in the Location Box at the top of the page.  The PURL (web address) will begin with http://.... You can use this PURL to create a direct link to the article.  If you enter the database through the regular Panther Prowler, Databases A-Z or Databases by Field of Study sections of the library home page, the PURLs are NOT proxified.  Instead, enter the database or journal by going first into UNISTAR. Go to the Books and Other Materials (UNISTAR) link and conduct either a Title search for the database or a Journal Title search for the name of the journal.  Once the UNISTAR record for the title is located, click on the active link in the UNISTAR record and this link will take you either into the database or into the electronic journal.  If you enter the database or journal through UNSTAR, most of the links are already proxfied. For information of how to proxify an article link so it can be accessed from off-campus, see the document  Directions for Proxifying a Persistent or Durable PURL in a Licensed Library Database.

You can also create links to databases and place them in your WebCT course module. When students click on your link they will be taken directly to the library database. These links also should be proxifed so that off-campus students can access the database. For a list of proxfied PURLs (web addresses) for library databases that you can use, see the document  List of Proxified URLs for Rod Library Databases.

You can request full text articles found in licensed library databases to be placed on Electronic Course Reserves. See Electronic Course Reserves for more details about this library service.

Distance education faculty can work directly with Belle Cowden, Division of Continuing Education and Special Programs, to create links in WebCT course modules for distance education classes. Faculty members can also contact Ellen Neuhaus, Rod Library's distance learning coordinator, for additional information and help. Please see our contact page for contact information.