Perma.cc

What is perma.cc? Why would I use it? Whom should I contact? 

perma.cc logo

 

Perma.cc keeps any links referenced in your research or publications from changing or disappearing. It fights link rot!

 

Use it to preserve the online sources you cite and to make those records accessible to your readers. Forever.

You may create Perma.cc Links to your own or others' work as it appears online. Because Perma Links capture a snapshot in time, each one is unique, even if different individuals create their own Perma Links for the same document. Any Perma Link you create makes an archive of that specific web page at the moment in time that you “Perma” it, and you may use and share this link in your citations (or choose to keep it private). Perma.cc links are public by default.

Why is preserving a permanent record important? The following statement from the Chicago Manual of Style, 17th ed. (chapter 14 section 15), sums it up:

Authors are strongly encouraged to keep a copy of any source that is not formally published, as a hedge against potential challenges to the research or data before, during, or after publication. Such a source might include a post on a social-networking site or app, a page from the website of a banking institution, or a version of an article on a news site reporting an ongoing crisis—any source that may be difficult to track down at a later date in exactly the form in which it was consulted. (Examples of sources that would not be subject to this recommendation would include an article in a journal or a magazine or any book cataloged by the Library of Congress or other national registry.) Copies may be kept in the form of printouts or as digital files (e.g., as PDFs or screen captures), or by means of a permanent link creation service such as Perma.cc.

Get Started with an Account through Your Perma.cc Registrar of Users

By signing up for your own Perma.cc account with the relevant Registrar of Users below, Harvard affiliates will be able to save 10 links per month to your Personal Links folder, or an unlimited number of links to your organization folders.

Harvard Business School:

Harvard Divinity School:

Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences:

  • asklib@fas.harvard.edu (Faculty of Arts and Sciences Libraries)
    Please enter the following in your subject line: Perma.cc ATTN: Ramona Crawford or Emily Bell

Harvard Graduate School of Design:

Harvard Graduate School of Education:

Harvard Kennedy School:

Harvard Law School:

Harvard Medical School:

Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America:

 

Instructions

Please visit the Perma.cc guide created by Harvard Law School Librarians to learn how to:

  • Create a Perma.cc link
  • Use and cite links*
  • Manage links
  • Annotate links

*Please note that very few citation manuals have yet been updated to provide formatting guidance for incorporating Perma.cc links. The current best practice is to include both the original URL and the Perma.cc link in your citation, prefacing the latter with "archived at."

**Please also note that citation management tools, like Zotero and EndNote, as of this writing, do not yet automate the inclusion of Perma.cc links in citations. If you wish to include them, you must edit each record by hand.

Additional Resources

See the official Perma User Guide and FAQ.

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