Linking to catalogue records in LibGuides

This is a reminder to carefully check your links to the library catalogue, as I’ve found a few broken links in LibGuides that are supposed to go to catalogue records. Please don’t copy your searches from HIP and reuse them in LibGuides, as it will copy all your session information and the link will break.

The easiest way to create a reliable link to a catalogue record is to use the HIP Linkmaker.

Please test your links when you’ve added them to LibGuides, and contact Library IT if you’re unsure.

Donna

2 thoughts on “Linking to catalogue records in LibGuides”

  1. Session information in a link (you’ll see something like session=1J35594V706E0.9384 in the url)can be deceptive. It may appear to work when you first test it.

    If you copy and use a link with session information in it, and then test it pretty much immediately, it could well work. This is because the session is still valid – you might still be using it. Sessions cease when you close the browser you were using, or they time out if you don’t do anything in the application for a period of time.

    To be really sure if your link will work, please ensure that there is no session information in the url – best achieved by using HIP Linkmaker. If you do create a link by copying and pasting a link then removing the session information, ensure you close all browsers used to do the search, before you test the link in its new place.

    Catherine

  2. The same applies to links to our databases – I’ve seen some pretty shonky ones lately!

    Please refer to the Camelot page Copying and pasting Electronic resources URLs http://camelot.libr.canterb
    For links directly to articles see the Library Web page Creating Hyperlinks to articles http://library.canterbury.a
    or contact me for help. You should never copy an URL from the browser address bar and any links to our subscribed databases should always include the EZProxy URL or your UC Libguides users will not get access if they are off campus.

    If you are stuck, please let me know and I’ll help you to construct the correct URL.

    Deirdre

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