Linking to Magale Library’s Electronic Book and Database Resources

*This library guide is also a video tutorial: https://use.vg/nqzKEY
Both describe how to link to Magale Library’s online resources.

It is important to note when accessing Magale’s electronic resources, users must do this through the Magale Library Webpage.  Users will be prompted for their SAU account login when accessing resources from off-campus.  For students, the login information is the same as their Blackboard or mySAU login information.

There is a key component for linking directly to resources such as a specific e-book, electronic journal article, or an on-demand video. This component is to include the Magale Library proxy extension at the beginning of the resource’s URL.

https://saumag.idm.oclc.org/login?url=

For example, if you want to recommend researchers to use a specific database, like ProQuest Central, then you take the base URL for ProQuest and insert the Magale Library proxy extension in front of it.  This key component applies to Magale’s two main types of electronic resources, digital libraries and databases.

Linking to Electronic Books

Let’s begin with discussing how to link to Magale’s most popular digital library, ProQuest Ebook Central. The ProQuest Ebook Central link is located in the library’s right menu. You may link to Magale Library’s other ebook collections following these same basic steps.

		Once we have located an ebook resource that we want to link to, we have some options. 1. We may choose to link to the entire book by using the Share Link to Book option, or 2. link to a specific chapter by selecting the Read Online option for a particular section of the book. Either approach works very similarly. Let’s say that we want to link to the chapter, Investigating lifespan perspective.
		For this example, let’s say we want to link to a specific chapter, so we select the Read Online link to the chapter, Investigating the Lifespan Perspective. 1. Note that we cannot simply copy and paste a URL and expect it to work. 2. Instead, we need to locate and use the Share Link tool.
		When the sharable link appears, we need to copy the link from the share link tool.
		When we copy this link into an email message, Word document, or other application, we get a link to the specific e-book chapter.  However, this URL does not work in most off-campus uses.  In order for the link to work properly, we need to add the library’s proxy prefix before the link to the specific chapter.  Once we have added the library’s proxy prefix, we use the entire URL to link to the resource.
		Now, when we copy and paste the entire URL into a web browser, it takes us to the Magale Library Off-Campus Login where SAU members can enter their login information.
		Once the login information is entered, we are taken directly to the ebook chapter.

Linking to Database Resources

Now, let’s focus on linking to database resources. The process is very similar as linking to a book. For this example, let’s search for an article using the library’s Search Electronic Collections tool. However, these same steps work for most database resources.

		When you have the detailed record for the item open, you should have a toolbar with a share link tool. The tool’s label varies amongst the databases but is usually labeled: share link, persistent link, stable URL, or as we see in this example: Permalink.
		Notice that the Permalink in this example includes an older proxy address in the link. We need to remove the former proxy prefix and update it with the new proxy prefix.
		When we copy and paste the permalink, the former proxy prefix will be at the beginning of the resource’s link. However, we will want to make sure to remove the old proxy prefix and replace it with the new proxy prefix. Once we have made this update, we will use the new URL to link directly to the library’s resource.
		Let’s look at another example, the resource provider uses a “Stable Link.”  Notice that we will also have to manually insert the Magale Library proxy extension into this URL before using it in an application. We need to be sure that the link includes the entire URL.  Make sure there is no extra space or character between the end of the Magale Library proxy extension’s equal sign and the beginning of the resource’s URL.