Answered By: Vicki Sciuk
Last Updated: Jan 25, 2023     Views: 371

A Persistent Link, or Persistent URL (PURL), is a constant, stable link to a document in a database that will not change over time. A PURL is also sometimes referred to as a durable link or a Permalink.

PURLs allow you to provide an item to your students, such as a full-text article located within a database, by copying the Permalink and posting it in Canvas. This specific link to the article will work reliably and will work off campus. Students can also use it at the end of their citations to make sure they can go back to the full article, and so their instructors can see where they got the material in their papers from.

You know a link is a persistent link if you see the word 'EZProxy' in the link followed by the library's information as shown below.

FACULTY NOTE: Articles in online databases are provided by licensing agreements and utilizing the PURL is the recommended method for sharing this type of content. Posting articles in an open access environment can be copyright infringement unless you secure permission from the publisher and/or author. Because of this, please keep the content within Canvas, and use the persistent links from our subscribed resources, which do not require such authorization.

EXAMPLE:  â€‹Find a PURL in ProQuest

ProQuest - Once you click on the title of an individual article, look to the top, far right for the "All Options" icon (3 dots):

Click on it, and the persistent URL will be in the top box (next to a link icon) for you to copy:


See the FAQ & videos below for very quick demos of finding the PURL in EBSCO (LibSearch), CQ Researcher, and ProQuest. See the attached document (below) for PURL locations in all of our databases.

Media

  • Finding the PURL in LibSearch

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