OneSearch and Permalinks: A Guide for Course Designers
How to Choose OneSearch Permalinks for Classroom Readings
Say you’re designing a class, and you find an article in OneSearch that you want to use as a class reading. Chances are the article has more than one permalink option. This guide shows you how to choose a OneSearch permalink for a class reading.
The process can be a bit complicated! So if you’re ever in doubt about which link to use, please ask your library liaison!
Three Kinds of OneSearch Links
In OneSearch, you’ll see three types of links:
- Get PDF
- Read Online
- Available Online
A single article may have all three, or just two, or only one type of link.
For the purpose of choosing a link for a class reading, all three types of OneSearch link are essentially the same! It's not a hierarchy; no type is preferred. It’s just a matter of clicking on a link or two to choose one that will bring the student to the article, in the library, efficiently.
Here’s an example:
If you click on Read Online, you’ll be brought to this page:
Reviewing the page, you’ll quickly note that you’re in the UMGC library (in a ProQuest database), at a database record where the student can immediately read the full text of the article.
Your job is done! You’ve gotten as close to the article as possible while staying in the library!
Copy the article permalink at the right of the database screen (the “Copy URL” icon) and use that permalink in the classroom.
Let’s look at an example of using the Get PDF and Available Online links.
For this article, if we click on Get PDF, we're brought to a PDF of the article:
On that page, there’s no indication that we’re in the UMGC library, and in fact the URL shows we’re at a journal publisher’s website. It’s an open access article at the journal website.
Which brings us to:
It’s not dangerous to follow an article link outside of the library, and if you used a journal-publisher's PDF link in the classroom, it wouldn't be a disaster!
But links outside of the library are subject to link rot. Also, to maintain as much consistency for students as possible, the library encourages course designers to, again, choose a link that brings the student as close as possible to the article, only without leaving the library.
But this article and others have an easy solution!
Having clicked first on Get PDF and seeing that it’s sub-optimal, because it takes us outside of the library, next we click on Available Online. Doing so takes us to this screen:
Those are all links to the full-text article in EBSCO databases. They’re all more or less the same, so just pick one, like Academic Search Ultimate, and click it. You’ll see this screen:
Again, you’re still inside the UMGC library, at a database record where the student can immediately read the article PDF. That’s perfect! Use the icon at right to copy the permalink for this article, to use in class.
Please note: The permalink for a journal article like this, in an EBSCO database, will bring you back not to the above screen, but to one like this:
This page is also ideal, because we’re still in the library and the student will see two ways to read the article: HTML or PDF. From an accessibility standpoint, more options are better than fewer!
Review: Best Practices for Choosing a OneSearch Permalink for a Classroom Reading
When choosing a OneSearch permalink, follow those best practices to help students access readings as efficiently as possible.
And remember, if you’re ever in doubt about which link to use, please ask your library liaison!