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Journals Administrative Handbook: Perma.cc

Links to/about Perma.cc

Navigating Perma.cc

How and why do we use Perma.cc?

Link rot (and “reference rot”) happens when you cite to an online source that later disappears or changes. It's a big problem, especially for academic scholarship and judicial opinions, which depend heavily on citations to stable sources that readers can access. For example, a study conducted by researchers at Harvard Law School found that more than 70% of the links in a sample of law journals and 50% of the links in Supreme Court opinions no longer work.

Links need only be created for open web sources that do not have a stable URL (i.e. websites, blogs, working papers, and so forth).  Do not archive sites that keep content behind a paywall. This excludes HeinOnline, LexisNexis and Westlaw, i.e. Lexis, West, Hein content are behind paywalls. 

Perma.cc Terms and Conditions 5(a) states “that the User Submitted Content both (1) is freely available on the Internet to the general public without paying, registering with the website, or the like and (2) is cited in a legal or scholarly work;”.

If you have any questions on what is/not allowable, please contact the Library Director or designate.


Each Journal is its own "Archiving Organization."

Each journal is its own Archiving Organization.  The Editors in Chief and Managing Editors are set up by the Library Journals Liaison as Affiliated Users of the Organization, they can then create user accounts for other editors. Affiliated Users can create links within your journal’s Archiving Organization account. It is not recommended that journal staff become Affiliated Users. 


Receiving & Navigating Your Account

Journal editors and staff should not create their own User IDs.  The Journals Liaison will add new editors from within Perma. Use only UNMSOL email addresses for account setup.  The new member will receive an email from info@perma.cc to activate their account.  Once your receive the email, click on the link to set your password.  Not sure where the email is? Check your clutter/junk/spam folders.

Once logged in, you'll see the Perma dropdown menu in the upper right corner of the screen. From this menu you can navigate to your links or the tools and settings pages. The My Links page gives you quick access to all of the links you've created. As a member of an organization, you'll also see all the links associated with your organization. From this page, you can annotate links and organize them into folders according to your journal's preferences.

Adding Users

  1. Go to the perma.cc homepage
  2. Click the Log in link in the upper right corner and log in using the credentials you established after clicking on the account set-up email link. (See "Receiving & Navigating Your Account" on the Getting Started tab.) You will be taken to the default page, Create a new Perma Link.
  3. Click on the down arrow next to your name in the upper right corner to see the menu choices.
  4. Click on Manage Users.
  5. You will see a list of users affiliated with your organization. Click the +add organization user button to add a new user.
  6. In the box that appears, type in that person's UNM Law email address and click on the Add organization user button under the email box.
    • If the person already has a Perma.cc account:
      • You will get a screen indicating the person already has an account and asking if you want to add them to an organization.
      • Select your organization and click the add to organization button. You will get a message indicating they have been added, and they will immediately show up on the user list. They will get an email indicating their account has been affiliated with your organization.
    • If the person does not yet have a Perma.cc account:
      • You will get a screen to add the person's first and last name. Click add organization user.
      • You will get a message that an email has been sent to that person to create their account. Once they create their account, they will be added to the organization user list.

Removing Users

If you no longer want a user to be affiliated with your organization, you can remove them from your organization. Any links they created while affiliated with the organization will remain active and still be able to be managed by others affiliated with the organization.

Follow steps 1-4 above to access the Manage Users options.

Click the "remove" button next to their name and confirm that you want to remove that user's organizational affiliation.


This page's information is from Drake Law Library.

Suggested Workflow (without an author):

  1. Staff (Cite Checkers) locate Electronic Source (PDF or Website)
  2. Staff verify author’s assertion
  3. Staff format citation (omitting Perma.cc Link)
  4. Staff archive PDF or PDF of website in Drive
  5. CE reviews the footnotes
  6. CE creates a Perma.cc link for certain URLs *
  7. CE adds Perma.cc URL to footnotes

* Do not create Perma.cc links for pages that already have a permanent URL and/or if the source is readily available in print. Do not create links for electronic sources that are not freely available to anyone on the web. This includes content from Westlaw, Lexis, Hein, and all other licensed databases. Please ask a librarian if you have any doubt about whether it's okay to create a perma.cc link.

Creating Perma links while cite-checking is not recommended.  This is because Perma.cc creates a different link every time you enter a URL, even if it’s the exact same URL.  You can easily end up with a lot of links to the same place. 


Authors who use Perma.cc

If an author creates their own Perma.cc Link, this means the information will never have a chance to disappear between when they submit their article to when S&C is completed.  Practitioners and scholars outside of the legal field most likely do not know about Perma.cc.  If you want an author to archive their own links, please be ready to talk them through the process.

Instructions on Creating a Link

  1. Log in: perma.cc homepage
  2. Click the Log in link in the upper right corner and log in using the credentials you established after clicking on the account set-up email link. (See "Receiving & Navigating Your Account" on the Getting Started tab.) You will be taken to the default page, "Create a new Perma Link").
  3. Use the file structure on the left to identify the folder where you want to save the link. If you right-click on an organization or folder name, you can create a new folder within that space. The folder you have selected with show at the bottom of the top tan box: This Perma Link will be affiliated with Organization > subfolder (if any)
  4. Enter the URL you would like to archive, and paste in the main field. See the below tips for finding the correct URL.  The entry box accepts multiple formats, including "www" and "https://"
  5. Click the "Create Perma Link" button
  6. Once processing is done, Perma will display a "Success!" message, a thumbnail image of the preserved page and the new Perma Link (such as perma.cc/ABCD-1234).
    1. Note the created perma link includes a top box that provides options to see the website as it currently exists (View the live page) as well as see the archived screenshot you just created (See the screenshot view) or look at the record details.
  7. Review the thumbnail image and click on the new Perma Link to confirm that the new record displays accurately. 
  8. Clicking on the green box takes you to the website as it currently exists—and allows you to see the screen shot and archived versions of the site.  Perma provides multiple archive formats for each archived web page: (1) live page view, (2) screen capture and (3) archived page.  The "live view" is just that--it reflects the page at that moment not your archived copy of that site.
  9. Copy the new perma link and paste it into a different browser (where you are not logged into your perma.cc account). Ensure that the page appears as needed. (If the page was coded as unable to be archived, users not logged into the perma.cc account that created the record will get an error message. Read more about private records.)
  10. Back in your original browser, you can click on the Edit link details link to change the record details, as shown below. You may change the title or description, add a note, or upload your own .png, .jpg, or PDF. (If the screenshot is not correct, uploading your own screenshot can solve the problem.)
  11. The "Delete Record" button is only available for the first 24 hours, after which the link becomes permanent. So please double check your work!

Read about Private Archives within Perma.cc



Tips on Getting the Correct URL

Tips curated by Tove Kloving at Washington University Law Library & Nick Szydlowski at Boston College Law Library.

Links need only be created for open web sources that do not have a stable URL (i.e. websites, blogs, working papers, and so forth).  This excludes HeinOnline and Westlaw.  Also, do not archive sites that keep content behind a paywall.  For more info on this, skip down to the sub-tab on “Copyright”.

URLs with a DOI or Handle are stable, and there is no need to create a Perma link. If you’re not sure if the web page should be vest, check the URL.  Is it long and complex? If so, there is greater chance the page will be unstable over time.

Example of a DOI URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ajim.22120

Example of a Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.hncbnw

 

► Some sites may not archive completely.  Common reasons are:

  • Site has video
  • No direct URL is available, such a PDF on SSRN.  So, only the SSRN abstract will be archived, not the paper.
  • Content that appears on multiple pages.  If a new story is laid out over 2 or more pages, only the content appearing at the entered URL will be archived.

► Blogs

When creating a Perma.cc link for a blog post, always use the URL for that specific post, not the URL for the Blog itself. Even if the blog post appears in its entirety on the Blog’s main page, overtime it will move down and then off that page.

Options for finding the link for a specific blog entry will vary:

  • Look for a link at the end of the entry that reads “Permanent Link” or “Permalink” (this is not a Perma.cc link)
  • Click on the title of the blog entry
  • Click on a “read more” link if there is one
  • Look for a “Share” button that is not dedicated to a specific social networking site. Click on “Share” or “Copy Link”. Select the entire link and copy.

Note: Sometimes a pop-up add can obscure information when the screen shot is taken.

►Newspapers, Magazine Articles

Often, a website will only display the first portion of an article on the initial Webpage. Do not rely on the small preview window when determining if the entire article has been archived. Look for a “Share” button that is not dedicated to a specific social networking site. Click on “Share” to see if a link is displayed. If not, you usually will be offered a long list of social networking sites. Look for an option not associated with a social networking site, such as “Copy Link” (make sure you have selected the entire link).

►PDF 

If the PDF opens in your browser, you can copy the URL from your browser.  If it opens in a PDF reader, go back to the page with the link, copy the link location.  For Firefox on PC: right click the link and select “copy link location”.  For Internet Explorer on PC: right click the link and select “copy shortcut”.

You can annotate any link accessible to you. Just select "My links" from the dropdown menu, click on the right folder, and then click the "More" button on the item you want to annotate. The item will expand to display more details about the link. From this view you can edit the title, add notes, move the link to another folder, and view other metadata about the link:

Perma How to Annotate Links


Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.