Library Resources for Online Classes: Link to Articles and Journals

Linking Directly to Articles, Journals and Other Library Resources

This guide describes how to find and/or configure links to articles, journals, films and other resources your students can access through your course web site.

Creating Permanent Links to Library Resources

  1. Find a persistent URL: On the article or journal page, look for words such as "Persistent URL", "Stable URL," "InfoMark," "Document URL," or "Permalink."
  2. Is the link already proxied? If the persistent URL contains the term libproxy, students accessing it from off campus will automatically be directed to log in using their CSUN User ID and Password.  You can use the link "as is" and paste it directly into your course web page.  If you don't see libproxy, proceed to step 3 to build a proxied link.
  3. Build a proxied link: Use the Proxied Link Builder below. 

  1. Copy the persistent URL from the article page and paste it into the top box of the Proxied Link Builder.
  2. Click "Create Proxied Link." The proxied URL will appear in the bottom box.
  3. The proxied URL can be copied, saved, or shared for later use.


Frequently Asked Questions:

Why can't I just copy the address from the address bar to save a link to an article?

Web addresses, or URLs, that appear in the address bar of your web browser may contain session-based or search-based information that causes the URL not to work later. This is especially true of the URLs that appear when searching a database. This is why many online databases provide a separate persistent or stable link in each record for an article.

What is a persistent URL?

A persistent URL is a link that will remain stable over time and allows a user to access the linked document later.

How do I find persistent links in online databases?

Some research databases include a persistent or stable link in the article record. Please note that the terms used and the location of these links in the record vary from one database to another.

How do I know if a persistent URL will work when accessed from a computer outside the CSUN campus network?

In order for a link to an article to work on an off-campus computer, it must be "proxied."  A proxied link contains special coding that will allow CSUN users to access the article, journal, etc. using their CSUN User ID and password.  A proxied link always contains the term libproxy.

How can I use a proxied persistent link?

Once you have found or built a proxied persistent URL you can paste the URL into a Moodle page or other documents.