Stable links are also referred to as “persistent” links, “durable” links or “permanent” links. In OMNI in any TMU Libraries record you can look for the permalink icon and link to the OMNI catalogue record that can be shared with students or staff. Often as well you can share direct links with Database content with other authorized users, who can then login to read the materials.
Using the DOI (Digital Object Identifier)
A stable link can be made using the DOI.
- Find the DOI, often on the main page for an article (containing citation and abstract information).
- Copy this DOI,
- Add the following proxy prefix to the front of the copied DOI.
http://ezproxy.lib.torontomu.ca/login?url=http://dx.doi.org/
Example:
http://ezproxy.lib.torontomu.ca/login?url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09612020100200291
How to locate databases that contain the article by Using Omni
- Type the article title in the Omni search box on the Library home page.
- The article you are looking for usually appears at/near the top of the search results list.
- If it links directly to the article page, do another search for the journal title
- Check if posting of links is allowed for each individual database from the license terms of use information.
- Choose the database that allows posting of links.
- Locate the article from the database to get the stable link.
How to shorten long URLS
If no direct link to the article can be created, one option is to link to the SFX “Get It” menu that shows a list of journal databases that contain it. The resulting URL tends to be long and exceeds the number of characters allowed by Ares in the ‘Reserves Location” URL field.
Example:
http://sfx.scholarsportal.info/ryerson?ctx_enc=info%3Aofi%2Fenc%3AUTF-8&ctx_id=10_1&ctx_tim=2012-07-09T14%3A40%3A41EDT&ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_id=http%3A%2F%2Fsfx.scholarsportal.info%2Fryerson&rft.atitle=gender+
symmetry+in+domestic+violence&rft.aulast=Kimmel&rft.date=1999&rft.genre=article
&rft.jtitle=Violence+against+women&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3A
journal&svc_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Asch_svc&url_ctx_fmt=
info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&url_ver=Z39.88-2004
You can shorten the long URLs into shorter ones by using the following sites:
Copy the long URL and paste it into the relevant field on these websites to get a shortened URL.
Example: (from tinyurl.com)
The above long URL which has a length of 493 characters is shortened to a length of 26 characters:
Unfortunately, due to the limit on the number of characters allowed in the “Reserves Location” URL field, the link created from SFX Generator does not work in Ares. Hopefully, this issue can be fixed in the future enhancement of Ares. For the time being, we can use some of the websites that can shorten long URLs into tiny ones.