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Library Support for Simmons elearning: Linking to Course Reserves and Fulltext Articles

The Simmons Library provide two ways to connect to fulltext articles from your Simmons elearning Course page:

  1. You can create a link to course reserves page maintained by the Libraries' Access Services staff.
  2. You can create direct links to articles yourself, which can be embedded in a syllabus or reading list

To link out from your Simmons elearning Course page to your library course reserves page:

If you have materials on reserve in the Library and would like to make it easy for your students to view the list from your Simmons elearning course page, you can link out to these materials from the front page of your Simmons elearning course. Students click on a "Library Reserves" icon, which links them directly into the reserves listing for your course. There, they can see what books, photocopied materials or electronic copies you've placed on reserve for them and whether they are available. If there are electronic reserve materials on your list, your students can view or print them directly.

Here are step-by-step directions for linking course reserves to Simmons elearning.

For Simmons elearning (version 3.8):

First, visit your course reserves page in the library's online public access catalog (OPAC). You can search for your course reserves either by clicking on "Professor" and typing in your last name, or by clicking on "Course" and typing in the name or abbreviation of your course. When your course comes up, highlight the URL and copy it. Please remember to include "http://".

Next, open up your Simmons elearning course page. There will be one of two scenarios:

A) You will need to create a new "Library Reserves" icon because you do not see one on your page.

B) There is already a "Library Reserves" icon, so you must customize it so that it links directly to your course reserves page.

To create a new "Library Reserves" icon:

1. From the course homepage's navigation bar, click "Add Page or Tool."

2. In the column labeled "pages," click "URL."

3. Follow the prompts: Type a title for the link to Library Reserves. (An appropriate title would be "Library Reserves").

4. Where it says "Address," delete http:// and paste the entire URL that you copied earlier.

5. Where it says "Decide where to show the link to this item," you must decide whether you want the link to appear on the navigation bar, on the homepage, or on both. Check the boxes that are appropriate.

6. If you choose to show the link as an icon on the homepage, then you need to either let Simmons elearning choose a default icon for you or "Browse..." to select your own.

7. Look for the category of icons you prefer to use, either "Simmons elearning_casual_trans," or "Simmons elearning_formal." Click on the triangle next to the one you want, and from the list that drops down, select "notext." (A "no text" icon allows you to add your own title with minimal confusion.) Many faculty are using the icon in the following location: /wct_files/icons/Simmons elearning_casual_trans/notext/references.gif.

8. Once you find the icon you want, click on it and click "Pick" in the upper left corner.

9. Click "Add" to add this link to your course.

10. When you return to your course homepage, click on the "Library Reserves" link to test that it takes you to the course reserves page for the course that you are currently viewing in Simmons elearning.

To customize a "Library Reserves" icon that already exists:

1. While viewing your Simmons elearning course homepage, click "Designer Options" at the top of the page.

2. Click the radio button next to the link for "Library Reserves."

3. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click "Edit link" on the right side of the page, then click "Go."

4. In the box next to "URL (Required)," highlight all of the text already there and then paste the URL that you copied when you found your course reserves list from the online public access catalog.

5. Scroll down and click "Update."

6. When you return to your course homepage, click on the "Library Reserves" link to test that it takes you to the course reserves page for the course that you are currently viewing in Simmons elearning.

If you have questions or need assistance with this process, please call the Access Services Department in the Beatley Library at 617.521.2782.

How to create direct links to articles yourself, which can be embedded in a syllabus or reading list

The Simmons Library have the copyright permission and technological ability to allow you to make links in your Simmons elearning Course pages to full text articles (many with images) from thousands of scholarly journals and popular magazines, covering many subject areas. You can link directly to articles from these Library databases. Once you get the permanent/durable link using the directions below, create the html code for the link and paste in the article's URL: <a href="paste link here">Title of article</a> Rest of citation.

Ebsco Databases: (Academic Search Complete; Books In Print (with Reviews); Business Source Premier; Health Business Fulltext Elite; Medline)

  • Go to: http://0-search.ebscohost.com.library.simmons.edu/login.asp?profile=web
  • Locate the article.
  • Note: when viewing the initial article citation, you cannot use the "persistent link" provided, because it will not include the special coding that authenticates off-site users. You must follow the steps below to get the correct link to allow for off-site access.
  • Go to the fulltext of the article (either HTML or PDF)
  • Choose "Save" button at the top
  • Check the box before "Include when saving: HTML link to article"
  • Click "Save" button on the left
  • Now the persistent URL will be in the correct format. You will know it has the proxy rewrite - proper authentication - because the URL will begin with http://0-
  • Copy the URL next to the "Persistent link to this record" OR for the correct HTML code for a link to the article, copy the content next to the "Copy and Paste" option

 

Grove Databases: (Dictionary of Art and Dictionary of Music)

  • Go to: Art: http://0-www.groveart.com.library.simmons.edu/index.html or Music: http://0-www.grovemusic.com.library.simmons.edu/grovemusic/home/index.html
  • Go to the fulltext of the article
  • When you are on a page you want to link to, simply copy and paste the URL from the location box on your browser
    • Note: a linkable URL in Grove's products will look something like this: http://0-www.grovemusic.com.library.simmons.edu/grovemusic/script/article.asp?section=40258 - it must end in a 5 or 6 digit number - if you have a longer URL, truncate the end.
  • In Simmons elearning, create the html code for the link and paste in the article's URL: <a href="paste link here">Title of article</a> Rest of citation.

InfoTrac Databases: (General Reference Center (Magazine Index), Expanded Academic ASAP, Contemporary Authors, Contemporary Literary Criticism, General Business File, Health Reference Center-Academic).

JSTOR: (Provides full-text backfiles of many core scholarly journals, some dating back to the 1800s)

  • Go to the main JSTOR page and do a search (for a topic, or using a specific title of an article)
  • From the list of results, as part of each citation, you will see a line beginning "Stable URL:"
  • Copy the URL that follows "Stable URL:"
  • In Simmons elearning, create the html code for the link and paste in the article's URL: <a href="paste link here">Title of article</a> Rest of citation.

netLibrary: (Provides full-text access to over 4,000 current books and 3500 public domain books)

OVID

Project Muse: (Provides full-text backfiles of scholarly electronic journals in the humanities and social sciences)

Proquest Databases (ABI, Wall Street Journal, Education Abstracts and Fulltext Journals, Nursing Journals, Psychology Journals)

  • Go to http://0-proquest.umi.com.library.simmons.edu/pqdweb? - contact Megan Fox fox@simmons.edu x2742 for a password.
  • From an article or list of search results, click on green SAVE LINK button at the top left of the page
  • Once you have finished choosing links, click on the Results button at the top right of the page and select "Marked List and Durable Links"
  • Click on "Modify Link" to change the format of the article (abstract, full text, text and graphics, page image -PDF, or ask the user). I recommend "Ask the User" because this gives the user choice (the page image PDF can take a while, especially if dialing in on a slow modem).
  • Click on the "Export Links" button - you will be given a list of citations and URLs that can be copied and pasted in a Web page.

Wilson Databases: (Applied Science & Technology; Art Full Text; Wilson Biographies; General Science; Humanities; Library Literature; OmniFile; Social Science)

Contact your Librarian if you need additional assistance searching one of the databases.
library@simmons.edu Megan Fox 2/03

 

Page updated: September 2, 2008

 

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