The Library subscribes to databases that contain full text content (journal articles, encyclopedias, ebooks) on the web from over 60,000 separate journals, newspaper and magazine articles, legal and government documents, online reference books and textbooks. Blackboard, Desire2Learn and eCollege all support linking directly to this web content.

To point students and colleagues directly to online content or to sample searches in appropriate databases you will generally need to pay attention to three things:

1. A URL that is stable.  This means one that will point to the same resource every time. 
2. A URL that allows off campus users to login to a proprietary resource through the Library. 
3. A URL that opens in a new browser window. 

Level of discovery. Whether or not you include the article or a link to it might depend on how much 'discovery' you'd like your students to experience while taking your course.

• You may wish to provide a copy of an article for the sake of time and efficiency. 
• Or you might want to point your students in the general direction of the resources and start them exploring. An example might be a link to a fairly complicated search in Skyline that will display a list of books the class might find useful.  

Potential copyright complications. You may place a copy online if the Library does not provide full text online access as long as the following apply:

• Your electronic copy of a copyrighted article is a legally purchased copy or a digitized version of a legally purchased copy and the copyright holder has not specifically barred the practice.
• You place the article in a protected area such as a Blackboard course space, or in the Library online reserves, but not on your personal web page.
• You remove or otherwise hide the copy of the article from online users at least by the end of the semester. An important component of the doctrine of fair use.

See Know your copy rights from the Association of Research Libraries which outlines best practices in modeling the use of copyrighted materials in a classroom and online. Also see Copyright, Plagiarism and Intellectual Property which focuses on the issues surrounding copyright and fair use in higher education,

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