The HCC Libraries use a product called OpenAthens to allow users to login to our subscription electronic resources like databases, and to specific items like ebooks, ejournals, and streaming videos. "Athenized" links are special URLs that include a special prefix or internal codes that allow easy access to our off-campus users, as most of our students are for a good part of the time they spend on research and preparing assignments. Some HCC library databases provide you with links that are already "Athenized," others do not. For some, you will need to manually add a prefix to the beginning of the link provided by the database. Here are some tips for recognizing and creating them for use with your courses.
- The links that you use to our subscription resources must be "persistent" links. This means that the link is often not the one found in the browser address bar, but generally on the page and labeled "permalink" or "durable link" or something similar. NOTE - Ebsco databases recently made the browser address bar links into permalinks, so you CAN copy that link for future use. They are one of the few to allow this, however.
- You do not need to do this for freely available sites (such as Google) or links that are already Athenized and start with this special prefix - https://go.openathens.net/redirector/hccs.edu?url=
- Some vendors, like Credo, Ebsco, Gale, ProQuest, Kanopy, and Alexander Street, do not need this prefix for their resource links and the permalinks they provide will work both on and off-campus. Their permalinks include a location code or customer number like "hccs-ebooks" or "7036" or unseen internal information instead to provide off-campus access.
- Other vendors will need you to manually add the prefix above - https://go.openathens.net/redirector/hccs.edu?url= to the permalinks that they provide in order to make them work for off-campus access. You can refer to the platform-specific pages to the left for guidance on their specific links.
- When in doubt, reach out to your campus librarian. You can also email Digital Resources Librarian Jennifer Stidham at jennifer.stidham@hccs.edu for assistance.