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Faculty Scholarship Support

The purpose of this guide is to assist law school faculty in the production and promotion of their scholarly activities.

Perma.cc

Perma.cc is a service that helps prevent link rot. Use it to preserve the online sources you cite and to make those records accessible to your readers. Perma.cc enables scholars to create permanent records of the web sources they cite. "When a user creates a Perma.cc link, Perma.cc archives the referenced content and generates a link to an archived record of the page. Regardless of what may happen to the original source, the archived record will always be available through the Perma.cc link." The Bluebook supports the use of Perma.cc in Rule 18.2.1(d). The Ross-Blakley Law Library is a member of Perma.cc. If you'd like to begin using Perma.cc in your scholarship to ensure the online sources you cite remain available for readers, please request access at Ask a Law Librarian.

Watch this video from the Harvard Library Innovation Lab explaining why you should use Perma.cc.

Troubleshooting

Perma.cc uses bots to capture content on the web. Occasionally, sites may flag Perma as a bot - which it technically is - and prevent Perma from gathering the information required to successfully capture a webpage.

When this happens, you may see a message stating:  "Couldn't load URL. We’re unable to create your Perma Link." This typically occurs with news sites, but may occur with other domains as well.

If there's a page you want captured, but receive the error message listed above, there's a workaround that allows you to upload your own image or PDF into a Perma Link:  

  • Step 1:  Create a JPEG, PNG, or PDF of the page you want archived.
  • Step 2:  Navigate to https://perma.cc/manage/create and press the "Create Perma Link" button WITHOUT specifying a URL.
  • Step 3:  The error message ("URL cannot be empty") will include a button to "upload your own archive."
  • Step 4:  Specify a title and URL, then upload the JPEG, PNG, or PDF of the page you want archived.
  • Step 5:  Press the "Create a Perma Link" button.

Zotero

Zotero is easy-to-use reference management software that helps you collect, organize, cite, and share your sources. When you view books, articles, or other sources online, it automatically extracts and saves the information you need to create footnotes. It seamlessly integrates with Microsoft Word, LibreOffice, and Google Docs to make it easy to manage citations and bibliographies as you write. Register a free account here.