The Library provides access to millions of scholarly journal articles, essays and reports, newspaper and magazine articles, and reference sources such as encyclopedia entries. All of these resources can be accessed through the library databases, and one can link to specific content from Canvas.
A Persistent Link, or Persistent URL (PURL), is a constant, stable link to a document in a database that will not change over time, and will allow students to view the content off-campus. A PURL is also sometimes referred to as a durable link or a Permalink.
One must use a PURL when linking to a document from Canvas. The content on our databases is provided by licensing agreements with publishers. Downloading a PDF and uploading it into your course is a violation of our copyright agreement. Also, views to downloaded content will not count towards our usage statistics, which we rely on to make informed decisions about database renewal.
The location of a PURL will differ from database to database. Sometimes you will find it in the article’s abstract or at the bottom of the page. Other times you will see a link in the right hand column of the page. In some of our specialized databases, the PURL can be copied from the address bar of the browser.
Contact a librarian if you have any questions about finding a PURL in a specific database.
Retrieving a PURL to an article in ProQuest:
Retrieving a PURL to an article in LibSearch or EBSCO:
Retrieving a PURL to an article in CQ Researcher:
Link to an article’s Permalink in Canvas just as you would link to an external website.