Linking to Books and Journals
For most occasions, Leganto Reading Lists will help you link easily to books and journals from Moodle, allowing you to add items directly from LibrarySearch or the web. See the Reading Lists LibGuide for help.
However, if you want to link students directly to items. e.g. ebooks and ejournal articles, there are three steps:1 - Check that Edinburgh Napier staff and students have access to the Library material.2 - Find or create the 'permanent URL' for the book, ebook or ejournal article.3 - Add the resource link to Moodle. These instructions show you how to use a ‘permanent’ or ‘stable’ URL so that your students can access it, as otherwise the web address you see in your browser bar is often dynamic and will not last.
1. Check that Edinburgh Napier staff and students have access
The easiest way to do this is to use LibrarySearch.Search for the book or article and check that you can link to the full text online.
2. Find or create the 'permanent URL'.
Below are the different options for creating a permanent URL.
Using LibrarySearch (books, ebooks, articles)
- Search for the book or journal article in LibrarySearch, and then click on it.
- Select Permalink and Copy the Permalink to Clipboard.
- Add to your Moodle module.
Using the database or journal platform
Some databases use a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) to provide a stable identifier, others will give you a permanent/stable URL or permalink.
Using DOIs (articles)
To make a DOI into a permanent link, you need to add the Edinburgh Napier and DOI prefix to the DOI number. e.g. If the DOI number you have found on a database is: 10.1007/s11760-023-02676-y
You have two options in Moodle to help you to make these links, the E-journal link helper and an in-text editor.
The “E-journal link helper” block in Moodle will allow you to input a DOI or stable link and it will add the Edinburgh Napier and DOI prefixes as required. To add the block to your Moodle course, turn on editing and find Add a Block at the bottom left. This block will only be visible to editors.
When you are editing text, you will see the DOI button – this allows you to simply add a DOI number and it will create the link for you.
Note: Make sure you check any link before you use it in a Moodle course. It may be that the DOI links to one database, and Edinburgh Napier has access to the article in another database.Note that simply downloading and adding articles may breach copyright law. If you want copies of articles or book chapters, see Digital Extracts Service.