Can I link from Blackboard to a specific chapter in an ebook?

Somebody asked me this morning if it’s possible to link from Blackboard to a specific chapter in an ebook, rather than to the book in general.

This never used to be possible, but since some changes to library authentication we made this summer, it is now possible to do this for ebooks on the Library’s Dawsonera platform.

(It’s not possible to link to a chapter if the ebook is on the MyiLibrary platform, afaik, because MyiLibrary uses JavaScript to navigate through the ebook with pages displaying in an iframe, rather than assigning a persistent URL to each page.)

To create a link to a specific place in a Dawsonera ebook:

1.  Locate the ebook using the library catalogue or Find it at Lincoln, and log in. (If you are outside the Library, you will need to enter your account ID and password.)
    
2. Once you are logged in to the ebook, scroll down the screen until you see the Table of Contents (ToC). Choose the chapter/section you want to create a link to, right-click on that part of the ToC and select “Copy link address” (Google Chrome) / “Copy Shortcut” (Internet Explorer).
   
3. Paste the copied URL into a text editor (e.g. Notepad) and have a look at it. It should contain the text string “proxy.library.lincoln.ac.uk” – this will ensure that students can log in to the ebook to view it off campus. For example:
   • https://www-dawsonera-com.proxy.library.lincoln.ac.uk/readonline/9780414025530/startPage/191
4. If the URL contains that string, then you’re safe to add it to Blackboard as a link. (See the Blackboard help guides page for instructions on adding links to Bb.) If it doesn’t already contain that text string, use this EZproxy bookmarklet to add it in.
5. You should be able to see that the URL is just a link to a particular page in the ebook (…/startPage/191). You can change the number at the end of the URL and link to any page in the book. N.B. the page numbering in the ebook may not correspond exactly with that in the print edition!