Stable URLs

For anyone that missed it, Josh W, Nick, and I talked about various URL topics at the last Wed meeting. I made a handout for that. I'll post that hand out here.

What do stable, on- & off-campus URLs look like?

• They start with http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/cgi-bin/proxy.pl?server=
  
  
  
• Except for open access journals, they do not look like regular URLs.
  http://www.sciencemag.org – No.
  http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/cgi-bin/proxy.pl?server=www.sciencemag.org – Yes.
  
  
  
• They do NOT start with www.lib.ncsu.edu:[4 digit number]
  That’s an off-campus, proxied URL that will work once or several times, but is not stable.
  
  
  
• Be suspicious of session data in the URL: “sessionmgr106” or “EISESSION=1”
  
• Use the Library Article Linker to make URLs that do work on and off campus and do not have temporary variables. The key to this is not using the URL you find in the address bar but instead looking for a DOI, or whatever the vendor calls a stable URL, "permanent URL," whatever. Run the DOI or stable URL through the linker and test it.