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Instructor's Toolkit

Using Library Materials in your Brightspace Course

The library's eBooks, database articles, and video collections are reliable and accessible resources that you can add to your course content. The best way to add our resources into Brightspace is by including a link to the source for students to use. The library's resources use permalinks (or permanent links) to ensure reliable access. See the instructions below on how to find permalinks in our resources. 

What is a permalink?

Permalinks, also known as persistent links, PURLs or stable URLs, are permanently attached to the document and are intended to remain unchanged for years.

 

Why can't I just copy the URL in my browser's address bar?

On many websites, you can copy the URL; however, the library's resources work a bit differently because they require you to log in before accessing the content. Failing to use a permalink in these circumstances may often result in the link breaking and leave you with an error saying the page is no longer available.

  • Most of the library resources are subscription based and only available to our students and staff; therefore requiring you to log in. Permalinks make sure you always directed to the specific resource no matter who is logged in. 
  • The best practice is to always look to see if a permalink is available, whether you are in a library database, government website or other online resource.

 

Why would I use a permalink rather than just uploading the article, eBook or video into Brightspace?

Using permalinks is the best practice. Due to licensing restrictions, some resources can be uploaded while others cannot. Check with your library staff for specific information.

  • Reading an article or an eBook directly from the databases allows your students to use the featured tools, such as translation, audio, notes and citation options.    
  • Permalinks can direct students to specific segments of a video or the entire video. This is useful as many of our videos have transcripts and closed captioning features.
  • You do not have to check for copyright compliance when using a permalink to a resource. Uploading an article or eBook to Brightspace from the library's databases could violate copyright.

 

How does the library use permalinks? 

Our article, eBook and video collections keep track of which resources are being used and how often they are accessed. We use this information when making purchasing decisions. Let us know when a specific resource is important to you! 

Statistics are also used in making decisions on the location of resources on our website. This allows you to get the most out of our website.

How to Find a Permalink in:

Article Databases
  1. Click on the article title
  2. "Get Link" on the top right side
  3. Copy the link from the box that opens

Create a permalink using a GALE Database

  1. Click on the article or eBook title
  2. Using the right side tool bar, click on "Permalink"
  3. Copy the link from the box that opens

Create a permalink using an EBSCO Database

 

eBook Databases
  1. Click on the eBook title
  2. On the lower left side, click on "Share Link to Book"
  3. Copy the link from the box that opens

Create a permalink using ProQuest

  1. Open the eBook or video
  2. Copy URL at top of page 
  3. Add https://libproxy.nbcc.ca/login?url= before the URL
  4. Add ?ar&orpq&email=^u after the URL

Your permalink should look like:
https://libproxy.nbcc.ca/login?url=the URL for the O'Reilly resource here?ar&orpq&email=^u

Create a permalink using O'Reilly

 

Video Databases
  1. Click on the video title
  2. On lower left, click on "Share" then "embed/link"
  3. Copy the "Record URL" for the entire video
    Choosing a segment, will give you a segment link option

Create a permalink using Films on Demand