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 referred to as a Permalink. These work much more reliably than copying the URL from the address bar, which can be just temporary for that session and are often quite long.
PURLs allow you to provide an item to your students, such as a full-text article located within a database, by copying the URL from a Link Icon 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.
EXAMPLE 1: Find a Permanent Link in a Gale database
Biography in Context - Once you open a biography entry, look to the top, right side for the Get Link icon. Once the box with URL opens, click on Copy. The Permalink will be copied to your clipboard, and you can paste it into Canvas as a link, or add it to the end of a citation so you can get back to the article any time:
EXAMPLE 2: Find a Permanent Link in a ProQuest database
Healthcare Administration Database - Once you click on the title of an individual article, look to the top, right side for the Link icon, and click on Copy URL. The Permalink will be copied to your clipboard, and you can paste it into Canvas as a link, or add it to the end of a citation so you can get back to the article any time:
FACULTY NOTE: Articles in online databases are provided by licensing agreements and utilizing the PURLs (persistent links) 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 Permalinks from our subscribed resources, which do not require such authorization.