University Library > Direct Link to eReserves & Catalog

Direct Links to eReserves & the Catalog

Table of Contents:

Introduction

Faculty and staff may provide durable links to students for materials they have placed on electronic reserve (eReserve) in the Library Catalog, as well as Catalog searches. Some examples of eReserve materials include articles from print journals, magazines and newspapers, book chapters, poems, short stories, quizzes, homework answers, and other printed material. These links may be made from course management software such as Desire2Learn®, as well as from individual faculty and staff home pages and ROAD.

Faculty and staff may also provide direct durable links to articles in electronic journals, magazines and newspapers to which the University Library subscribes. The Library provides access to about 13,000 electronic journals, many through online database systems such as EBSCOhost® and ProQuest®. To read about durable links to library databases, please refer to the Direct Links to Electronic Journal Articles, etc. webpage.

When using durable links, there is no limit to the number of times one can link to a work. However, in order to comply with copyright restrictions the length of time is restricted to one semester. If a link is needed to an eReserve item for the subsequent semester, please contact the Circulation Department.

How It's Done

The Library employs EZproxy, a proxy server, which limits off-campus access of materials to registered students, faculty and staff of the UW-W. This helps the Library comply with copyright restrictions and licensing agreements. Off-campus persons  accessing materials will be asked to enter either their UW-W Net-ID (email name) and password (email password) or seven-digit UW-W ID number and last name. If the special coding https://libproxy.uww.edu:9443/login?url= is not added to the URL or URI for an item, there will be no off-campus access to it.

Known Problems

Proxy Server

Occasionally, people have difficulty successfully logging in to the proxy server. This is usually due to irregularities with their last name, such as a name change, hyphenation, or length, or having a firewall on their computer. If someone cannot log in using either method outlined above, please have them contact a Reference Librarian for assistance, either in person at the Reference Desk in the Library, by telephone at (262) 472-1032, or by email via AskWisconsin® from this web page < http://library/askwi/askwi.html > . More information about off-campus access may be found on the Library Services for Off-Campus Users web page.

Long URLs

Desire2Learn® cannot handle long URLs and sometimes breaks them up, causing the links to be unusable. The way to solve this problem is to make the URL shorter.

One website that does this is http://tinyurl.com . How it Works: Enter a URL with the proxy server coding attached in the text field provided and click on the Make TinyURL! button. The free service then creates a very small URL that will not break into smaller sections and never expires.
For example: The 252 character https://libproxy.uww.edu:9443/login?url=http://gateway.proquest.com/
openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2003&res_id=xri:pqd&rft_val_fmt=ori:fmt:kev:mtx:journal&genre=article&rft_id=
xri:pqd:did=000000388809101&svc_dat=xri:pqil:fmt=text&req_dat=xri:pqil:pq_clntid=3852
transforms into the 23 character http://tinyurl.com/levf .

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eReserves

Course Reserves are located using the Library Catalog. These include both materials on reserve physically in the Library, such as books, videos and DVDs, and those that are on Electronic Reserve/eReserve, such as articles and book chapters, which may be read online or downloaded by students.

There are three ways to make it easier for your students to locate reserves:

  1. Link directly to an eReserve item from your courseware, ROAD account or personal webpage.
  2. Link to an individual catalog record, such as one listing all the eReserves for a course. Follow the directions in the Specific Title Records section.
  3. Link to a list of Course Reserves for one or more courses.

Link directly to an eReserve

  1. Start by clicking on Find Reserves on the University Library home page < http://library.uww.edu/ >.
  2. When accessing from off-campus, enter your 7-digit UW-W ID number and last name when prompted.
  3. When in the Course Reserves section of the Catalog, select your name from the Instructor menu and your course number from the Course menu, and then click on the Search button. A list of what you have on reserve will appear.
  4. At the top of the list there will be a record with a title similar to A) Articles for Course 738 - Management of Technology (Electronic, Drago, 5/03), which links to a list of the eReserves for the course. Books, videos and other materials physically on reserve are arranged alphabetically by the title below this record.
  5. Click on the A) Articles for... link. For each item available online, there will be a message in the E-Items field indicating the title of the item or a description of it, such as "Practice Test 1", "Notes for week 1," or . Click on the link for the item you want to open it using Adobe® Acrobat® Reader.
  6. Copy and paste the PDFs URL into your courseware. Tips for getting the URL:
    • More recent versions of Internet Explorer® (IE) and Firefox®, show the URL in the Address/Location box at the top of the browser window.
    • If the URL does not appear in the browser window, or if the document opens directly in Acrobat®, return to the catalog record. Right click on the document link, and select Copy Shortcut or Copy Link Location.
  7. Add EZProxy® coding and citation information, then format using HTML coding if needed.

Link to a List of Course Reserves

Follow these instructions as well as applicable specialized instructions in the save Specific Title Record(s) section. The instructions work best searches that return fewer than 100 titles (see Known Issues below).

  1. Start by clicking on Find Reserves on the University Library home page < http://library.uww.edu/ >.
  2. When accessing from off-campus, enter your 7-digit UW-W ID number and last name when prompted.
  3. When in the Course Reserves section of the Catalog, select your name from the Instructor menu and your course number from the Course menu, and then click on the Search button. A list of what you have on reserve will appear.
  4. Once this search has been run, copy the URL from the Address/Location box at the top of the browser window.
  5. The resulting URL is made up of several parts, some of which must be included and others of which must be deleted for the reserves search link to work properly.  It is advisable to keep the various parts in their original order:
    • The URL must start with http://wtwlib.wisconsin.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi? as this identifies the catalog being used.
    • Note: Each argument, which are everything following http://wtwlib.wisconsin.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?, begin with an ampersand &, except that there is no & between http://wtwlib.wisconsin.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi? and the first argument.
    • Remove the &SEQ=xxx and &HIST=xxx arguments.
  6. Add EZProxy® coding and citation information, then format using HTML coding if needed.
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Canned Searches

Pre-constructed or "canned searches" in the catalog may be used to provide a dynamic link to a particular title or set of records. They may be used to:

  • Provide a short cut for students to your Course Reserves or eReserves
  • Shorten the length of a reading list, by providing a link to a catalog search instead of listing numerous titles, locations and call numbers
  • Pre-define specific types of information (such as, all chemistry periodicals in print in the University Library)

Automatic Canned Search Generator

As of April, 2007 there is a very good website called Voyager Canned Search Generator 2.0 located at < http://libraryasp.tamu.edu/cannedsearch/cannedsearch.asp >. (Voyager is the name of the software that runs the library catalog at UW-Whitewater.) Insert a URL from the library catalog into this free software and it will make a clean one which is usable in courseware, ROAD, faculty homepages, etc. Unfortunately, it hasn't been updated in five years, so it may not be running for much longer. If you choose to take advantage of this website, remember to double check that the URL works.

Self-Generated Canned Searches

To generate clean usable URL by hand follow these instructions, as well as any specialized instructions in the save Specific Title Record(s) section. The instructions work best for Keyword searches constructed using the Advanced Search display that return fewer than 100 titles (see Known Issues below).

  1. To access the Advanced Search display in the atalog, click on cFind Books, Videos, Documents... or UW-W Catalog on the University Library homepage < http://library.uww.edu/>.
  2. Click on the Advanced Search tab.
  3. Construct a search using the textboxes and menus, then click on the Search button.
  4. Once the search has been run, copy the resulting URL from the browser window. If using Internet Explorer® (IE), it appears in the Address box at the top of the browser window; if using Netscape®, it appears in the Location box. Copy and paste this URL into your courseware.
  5. The resulting URL is made up of several parts, some of which must be included and some of which must be deleted for the canned search to work correctly as an HTML link.  It is advisable to keep the various parts in their original order:
    • The URL must start with http://wtwlib.wisconsin.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi? as this identifies the catalog being used
    • The arguments, everything following http://wtwlib.wisconsin.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?, each begin with an ampersand &, except that there is no & between http://wtwlib.wisconsin.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi? and the first argument.
    • Remove the &PID=xxx and &SEQ=xxx arguments
    • The optional argument &HIST=xxx may be omitted
    • Each URL must have the following parts added or changed:
      • DB=local& following Pwebrecon.cgi?
      • &CNT=50 (or another number indicating how many records per display. Read about problem related to number of records below)
      • &SL=None (or, if using Limits, &SL=Submit)
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Examples (URLs normally appear on one line):

1. Using the Basic Search display, a Search by Keyword for shakespeare and (wom? or female?) provides the following URL in the Address or Location box:

http://wtwlib.wisconsin.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?
Search_Arg=shakespeare+and+%28wom%3F+or+female%3F%29
&SL=None&Search_Code=CMD&PID=24113&SEQ=20050130153334&CNT=50&HIST=1

which reduces to:

http://wtwlib.wisconsin.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?
DB=local&Search_Arg=shakespeare+and+%28wom%3F+or+female%3F%29
&SL=None&Search_Code=CMD&CNT=100

2. Using the Advanced Search display, a search for shakespeare [all of these] in [Keyword Anywhere] AND wom? female? [any of these] in [Keyword Anywhere] provides the following URL in the Address or Location box:

http://wtwlib.wisconsin.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?SAB1=shakespeare+
&BOOL1=all+of+these&FLD1=Keyword+Anywhere+%28GKEY%29
&GRP1=AND+with+next+set&SAB2=wom%3F+female%3F
&BOOL2=any+of+these&FLD2=Keyword+Anywhere+%28GKEY%29
&GRP2=AND+with+next+set&SAB3=&BOOL3=all+of+these
&FLD3=Keyword+Anywhere+%28GKEY%29&PID=23908&SEQ=20050130150421&CNT=100&HIST=1

which reduces to:

http://wtwlib.wisconsin.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&SAB1=shakespeare+
&BOOL1=all+of+these&FLD1=Keyword+Anywhere+%28GKEY%29
&GRP1=AND+with+next+set&SAB2=wom%3F+female%3F
&BOOL2=any+of+these&FLD2=Keyword+Anywhere+%28GKEY%29
&GRP2=AND+with+next+set&SAB3=&BOOL3=all+of+these
&FLD3=Keyword+Anywhere+%28GKEY%29&CNT=50&SL=None

3. Using the Course Reserves display, a search for Instructor Longrie, Michael provides the following URL in the Address or Location box:

http://wtwlib.wisconsin.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?INST=Longrie%2C+Michael+%28339%29
&DEPT=Any&CRSE=Any&PID=24481&SEQ=20050130162415&CNT=50&HIST=1

In addition to the general rules above, also comply with the following rules to reduce the URL:

  • Include at least one of the have one of the following:
    • &INST=[instructor] where [instructor] is replaced by the name of the instructor, which in this example is Longrie%2C+Michael+%28339%29
    • &DEPT=[department] where [department] is replaced by the department name, for example &DEPT=Languages%3A++and+Literatures+680+%2826%29
    • &CRSE=[course] where [course] is replaced by the name of the course, for example 101%3A+Freshman+English+%28209%29
  • Omit the values for elements not used in the search (&INST=Any, &DEPT=Any, &SECT=Any)

Thus the URL reduces to:

http://wtwlib.wisconsin.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&INST=Longrie%2C+Michael+%28339%29
&CNT=50

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Known Issues

  • It is possible that the format of canned searches will change with the release of a new version of the catalog software.  It is important to periodically check that your canned searches continue to work properly. If they no longer work, refer back to this page to check for updates and contact a Reference Librarian regarding the problem in person at the Library's Reference Desk, by phone at 472-1032 or by email through Ask a Librarian.
  • When a canned search returns more than one page of results (the default is set at 50 titles), using the Next button could result in an error. Instead of the second page of results, the page returned has a results table, but no titles. To avoid this, change the &CNT=50 argument to &CNT100 and avoid using canned searches that bring up large numbers of results.
  • You may use Limits in a canned search (for example, to limit by item type or location ), although it may be problematic. If you wish to include Limits in your canned search, please consult a Reference Librarian and ask to see the list of limit codes in the WebVoyage manual.
  • If the search terms have colons, quotes, or spaces, you must replace them to ensure the URL works correctly.
    • Replace spaces with %20
    • Replace quotes with %22
    • Replace colons with %3A

    Following these rules, "Journal of Chemistry" would be %22Journal%20of%20Chemistry%22 in the URL.

Canned Records

Search Page

Specific Title Record(s)

  1. Perform a Search by Title in the catalog
  2. Click on an item title to display its record
  3. Clean up the code as described under Canned Searches above
  4. To return multiple results from title page, leave the &CNT=X and &SID=X
  5. To make a single result display, select the title directly from the index page keeping v1=2&ti=x,y in the URL. (Where x=results page# and y=record number on that page.)
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Book Record(s) by ISBN

This will only work for books published after 1969 which have been assigned an ISBN. For books published before 1969, and those which otherwise do not have an ISBN in the catalog, follow the Specific Title Record(s) directions above.

  1. If you know the ISBN of a book in the library catalog, then skip to step 5
  2. Perform a Search by Title in the library catalog
  3. Click on the MARC View of the item record
  4. In the 020 field you will find the ISBN
  5. Insert the ISBN in to this URL. Do not include punctuations or spaces. (all on one line):
    http://wtwlib.wisconsin.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&Search_Arg=
    ISBN+%28ISBNnumber%29&SL=None&Search_Code=CMD&CNT=10

Serial (journal, magazine, newspaper, etc.) Record(s) by ISSN

  1. If you know the ISSN of a journal, magazine, newspaper or other serial in the library catalog, then skip to step 5
  2. Perform a Search by Journal Title in the library catalog
  3. Click on the MARC View of the item record
  4. In the 020 field you will find the ISSN
  5. Insert the ISBN in to this URL. Do not include punctuations or spaces. (all on one line):
    http://wtwlib.wisconsin.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&Search_Arg=
    ISSN+%22ISSNnumber%22&SL=None&Search_Code=CMD&CNT=10
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For assistance, contact a reference librarian at (262) 472-1032, by email or chat or in person at the Library's Reference Desk.

Last Revised: MS - 8/7/2007