Discovery Search Tutorial

We know you may not have time to read the full article and want to save it to read later.

Sadly, the Discovery Search has a two-hour timeout.

If you open a page and try to go back to it after two hours, you will not be able to read the article or use links on the page--you will get an error message. 

Also, any items saved in a folder (if not signed in to your EBSCO account) will be GONE.

You can easily avoid this issue by:

• Downloading the article 
• Saving/bookmarking the Permalink (not the URL at the top of the browser)
• Creating an EBSCO account and save it to your EBSCO folder

Permalinks are your friend!

Copying or bookmarking the URL at the top of your browser won’t save the page. The URL at the top of the page is specific to your search session and won't work if you try to use it later.

To avoid this issue every item has a Permalink--aka a permanent link. 

What are Permalinks?

Permalinks are links that do not expire. These links allow you to save and access content later. As long as the content is available within the database the Permalink will work.

To copy/save a Permalink: 

• Open an item
• On the Tools menu on the right, click on Permalink. 
• The Permalink will appear at the top of the screen. Use your browser's copy and paste function to copy the link from the Permalink window and paste it into an email, webpage, etc.

Using Permalinks

When using saved Permalinks, you may be prompted to log in. If prompted, you will need to enter your STLCOP username and password. Once logged in, you should be able to access the item. 

To save items in folders, you must first create and be signed in to a personal EBSCO account. 

Anything saved to a folder when not logged into a personal EBSCO account will disappear after 2 hours. If this happens, neither you or the library has a way to access those searches or bring back articles in folders. 

Creating an EBSCO account

• At the top of any Discovery page, click on the link for My EBSCO Account
• At the bottom of the page click on the Create one now link to create an account
• Follow the directions to create your EBSCO account.
  • Accounts are valid for one year and will need to be renewed yearly

Saving items

When logged into your personal account, you can save items from both the search results page and from an individual item page. 

• On the search results page: 
  • Click on the folder icon located to the right of your item
  • You can add all of the items on the current page by clicking the Share link at the top of the Result List
• On the item record page:
  • In the Tools menu on the right side, click Add to Folder

You can store an unlimited number of items in your personal folder; however, there may be limits on the number of items you can email, print or save at one time from your folder.

Viewing your folder

Click on the folder icon in the Discovery menu bar at the top of the screen to go to your folder--from there you can view all of your saved items. 

Permalinks are not just for articles, they can also be used to save and re-run a search. These links can also be saved in your EBSCO account.

Copying/saving a Permalink for a search:

• Click the 'Share' button at the top of your Result List.
• Highlight the link text in the Permalink box and copy using your browser's copy function. You can immediately paste the link into a website, document or email.

Save a search Permalink to the folder

• Log in to your EBSCO account and do a search
• On the top of the results page click the 'Share' link
• Click the 'Add search to folder' link. The search is now saved in the folder as a persistent link to a search.

Using a Permalink for your search

• Click the 'Folder' link at the top of the page
• Click on the 'Persistent Links to Searches' link in the left column to view all permalinks to your saved searches.
  •  Note: If you are not signed into your EBSCO account, any contents added to the folder will be deleted when your session is closed.