Getting started
If you are linking to course resources on the open web there is no need to follow these instructions.
Creating links to online readings
You may wish to provide links within your Moodle course to e-journal articles provided by the MSVU Library. This page lists suggestions on how to create links to items that are restricted to members of the MSVU community and require a login to be viewed when off-campus.
There are 2 steps to this process of adding a link to your course:
- Ensure the link is accessible to off-campus students
- Find the link for the article or book chapter
Need Assistance?
Request your list be created for you!
The MSVU Library reserves staff can create your online reading list for you. Please contact reserves@msvu.ca for more information. The library reserves staff will use the correct URLs to create an online reading list.
Creating links for off-campus access
1. Ensure the link is accessible to off-campus students
Most of our databases are
accessible only to computers on campus. When accessing the articles from
off-campus we must add the MSVU proxy server prefix to the link. This prefix
will send the user to login to MSVU and thus be recognized as a legitimate MSVU
member.
Guarantee that off-campus students login via our proxy server by
using the prefix http://www.msvu.ca:2048/login?url=
with the URL. Some databases provide this prefix but others do not. Always check
the link.
The link should either look like:
http://www.msvu.ca:2048/login?url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/27559244
or
http://www.jstor.org.www.msvu.ca:2048/stable/27559244
Stable Links
2. Find a stable link for the article.
The URLs for journal articles copied from the browser address bar are often temporary, lasting only for the browser session. Many journals provide a persistent link that may be used, although sometimes finding this link may be a bit challenging. Each publisher or vendor has its own way of representing this information. When looking for the persistent URL, it is useful to know the publisher or article database group which hosts the journal article. This will allow you recognize the patterns used for representing this information and make future linking easier.There are 2 main categories of links; persistent links and DOIs (Digital Object Identifiers).
Persistent Links
Persistent links are most often found on
the abstract/citation page for the article. Terms vary from publisher to
publisher but will be along the lines of 'Persistent link to this record:' or
'Document URL:' or ''Bookmark this Document' or 'Stable URL'. If
this information is not immediately noticeable look for a link to 'Article
Information' or 'Bibliographic Information' as the information may be listed
under that heading.
Not all persistent URLs include the MSVU proxy
information. Please check and if necessary prepend this information to your link
for off-campus access. Please also note that some of the article indexes do not
provide full text of the article but will have persistent URLs to the citation
record. It is best to check that you are providing a link to a full text article
record.
DOI (Digital Object Identifiers)
If the journal does not
provide a persistent URL look for a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) e.g.
doi:10.1093/ageing/afm118
The DOI can be appended to the following URL to
create the link to the journal article:
http://dx.doi.org.www.msvu.ca:2048/
For
example:
http://dx.doi.org.www.msvu.ca:2048/10.1093/ageing/afm118
This
type of link will both resolve the DOI and guarantee that the user logs into
MSVU if they are off-campus.
DOIs are becoming more common and are now
included in the APA citation style of online journal articles. It is important
to know that the DOI always links to the article on the publisher's site.
Choosing between DOIs and Persistent URLs
Sometimes the article will provide both a DOI and a persistent URL. If you are using an article from a vendor collection, like EBSCO or ProQuest, the DOI will send you not to the copy available via the vendor but rather to the publisher (for which MSVU may not have a subscription). When using article indexes like EBSCO and Proquest it is preferable to use the persistent URLs.
Linking to eBooks
3. Find a stable link to a specific page or chapter in an ebook.
The general rule for linking to a specific page in an ebook is to create a note or bookmark, and then use the URL of that bookmark/note as your link. Most of the ebook providers used by the Mount allow for the creation of bookmarks or notes.
The instructions below are for the EBL titles.
- Go to the page in the ebook that you want to use
- Click on the blue Notes tab (changes to green when clicked)
- Click on 'Create New Note'.
- Enter text in box. Most students will not see this text so it does not have to be very long. You just want to make sure a bookmark has been established.
- Return to the starting page - Click on 'This Book' in the upper left of the page.
- Click on the Bookmarks tab (light blue) - You will see the list of any notes/bookmarks you have created.
- Right-click on the link for the bookmark you need. [In Internet Explorer choose 'Copy Shortcut'; In Firefox choose 'Copy Link Location']
- This is the link you can use to go to a specific page in the book.
Please contact library@msvu.ca if you have any questions about creating links to materials liscenced by the Mount Library
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