Access OHSU Library Resources Remotely

What are persistent links?

• Web addresses that connect to a permanent location within a library database
• Stable and persistent! The web address will never change

Why persistent links?

• Copyright friendly because it is content OHSU pays for via the Library
• Easier than uploading PDFs to courses
• Students have direct access to download the PDFs

Persistent links and Sakai

• Sakai allows you to post article PDFs and their web addresses
• Posting PDFs from non-licensed journals is often violation of copyright law
• The Library recommends using persistent links to share materials via Sakai

Learn more about copyright and fair use using this great resource from Columbia University:

If you need to include an article link in your syllabus or post a citation to your class in Sakai, you can create a persistent link to an article via the OHSU Library Catalog.

Get into an article in our catalog in one of two ways:

I. Via Find @ OHSU Link Resolver

1. If you have searched in a database (PubMed, CINAHL, other) and found an article you want, there should be a blue/purple Find @ OHSU Library button associated with that record.
2. Click on the Find @ OHSU Library button
3. You should be brought into the OHSU Library catalog's record
4. Click on the Permalink icon, copy that and use as persistent link to insert the hyperlink to the syllabus or citation

II. Directly in catalog

1. Get into the OHSU Library catalog. 
2. Paste the title of your desired article in the search box.
3. If the article does not appear in your results, try narrowing the search to articles using the resource type filter.
   • Use the citation icon copy it to your clipboard. Paste the citation where you need to go point someone to that article (ex: your Sakai post or document).
   • Click on the Permalink icon, copy that, and highlight the article title (in the citation you pasted in the previous step) and insert the hyperlink. Your citation will look something like this:

Janeckova, Hamrik, Z., Matusova, M., & Badura, P. (2021). “I am going out!” – lifestyle sports and physical activity in adolescents. BMC Public Health, 21(1), 1–1079. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-11066-3

Options for obtaining persistent links to articles vary between databases.

• The most common options are described on this page.

Many databases provide a persistent link creation tool.

• The names of the tools vary
• Common terms to look for are permalink, jumpstart, copy link and embed link.
• These permalinks are usually located in the same area as the options to print, save, and email.

Databases that have persistent tools include:

• EBSCOhost (including CINAHL)
• Gale
• Ovid (including PsycINFO)
• and others

Here are some examples:

• DOIs are digital object identifiers.
• If a database provides a DOI for a full-text article in the item record, you can use it to make a persistent link.
• To make a persistent link from the DOI, copy the DOI and append it to this URL: https://login.liboff.ohsu.edu/login?url=http://dx.doi.org/

ScienceDirect and Wiley Online Library provide DOIs.

Here is an example: