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Creating Persistent URLs (PURLs)

Provides step-by-step instructions for creating persistent links to resources in the online library catalog and some of our most popular databases. Questions? Contact Library Technical Services at LTS@nvcc.edu.

Creating Persistent URLs for EBSCO Databases

★ Persistent links in EBSCO databases are are called Permalinks.  

NOTE:  There are many EBSCO databases (including Academic Search Complete, Business Source Complete, and CINAHL), and these instructions will work for all of them. See full list of EBSCO databases here. 

Steps:

  1. After you do a search and have a list of results, click on the title of the article you want (NOT the links underneath for PDF or HTML Full Text).
  2. Select Permalink from the Tools bar on the right:

     

    Locating the Permalink for an article
  3. A small box containing the URL pops out. The URL already contains everything you need to access the article from on or off campus (if you click on it while off campus you will be prompted to log in with your myNOVA username and password). Highlight and copy the URL (it's usually very long- be sure to get the entire thing), and paste in desired location.
  4. The link is long, so you may want to plug it into a site like Bitly (http://bitly.com/), which will convert the link into a shorter one that is easier to work with. The links never expire.