Perma.cc at NYU Libraries

Scholarship depends on evidence ("show me, don't tell me").  In most cases, this means citing previous research in the peer-reviewed literature, using persistent links such as digital object identifiers (DOIs), used by most academic journals, or handles, used by repositories such as NYU's FDA.  But if your scholarship depends on citing or footnoting web sites, or anything without a persistent link, there is a good chance these links will not work, or the content will have disappeared or changed, 5 or 10 or 20 years from now.

Over 50% of cited links in Supreme Court opinions no longer point to the intended page, one in five articles suffers from reference rot, and three out of four URI references lead to changed content. 

Scholarship depends on a solid foundation of evidence, one that won't erode as time passes.  Ensure that your future readers can see the same evidence you see.

NYU Libraries are a registrar for Perma.cc, a service to provide archiving of web pages for research purposes.  Researchers at NYU are able to archive, manage, and annotate an unlimited number of web pages with persistent shortlinks for citing, create multiple users with access to the same folders, and receive local support.  Perma.cc is built by Harvard’s Library Innova tion Lab, and in alignment with its focus on preservation, the service has a contingency plan and is also open source.

• Eligibility

  • Associated Perma.cc accounts registered by NYU Libraries are available to any current researchers, faculty, staff, and students at the university who have an active netID. It is intended for the use of administrators of publications and projects that are based at NYU.

  • The NYU Law Library maintains its own registrar account. Members of the NYU Law School community should contact the Law Library for eligibility and assistance.

• How do I sign up?

  • Send an email to permacc@nyu.edu to request an account with the following information.
    • The email linked to your current Perma.cc account (this allows us to find you in the system)
    • NYU department/school/institute affiliation
    • A statements about why you need to use Perma.cc in your project and how you will deploy
    • A dashboard folder name
      • If a collaborative project or publication, the name of that project or publication. For example:
        • Our_Project
        • Name_of_Journal
      • If this is an general individual project or publication, the naming convention used must be: 
        • FamilyName_Publications_NetID

• What if I already have a Perma.cc account?

  • You can continue to use this account. We can upgrade you to an NYU account, with the added benefits of unlimited link creation, multiple users, and local support.

• How do I use Perma.cc links in a citation?

  • This will depend on citation practices in your discipline, but here is one example:
    • 36. Scott Althaus & Kalev Leetaru, Airbrushing History, American Style, Cline Center for Democracy (Nov. 25, 2008), https://clinecenter.illinois.edu/project/NewsAnalytics/airbrushing-history-american-style, archived at http://perma.cc/G8PW-798L.

• Why not just use the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine?

  • Perma.cc provides a more thorough, accurate capture in two forms, a web archive file (WARC), and a screenshot (PNG).  Perma.cc also provides persistent shortlinks that are more convenient for citing, and enables researcher management of the links (with folders, annotation, and public/private control). Perma.cc is a partner of the Internet Archive.

• Are there any limitations I should be aware of?

  • Perma.cc is intended for non-commercial scholarly and research purposes that do not infringe or violate anyone’s copyright or other rights. Web pages to be archived should be freely available without payment or registration.  Additionally, some web pages employ a “noarchive” restriction, which Perma.cc archives but only privately.  In other words, the shortlink can be shared, but is available only to the researcher, the researcher's organization and registrar, and upon request.

• Does Perma.cc have any other features?

  • A bookmarklet and extension are available for easy use in a browser (you must be logged in to use them), users can create links in batches, and links can be deleted within 24 hours.

• I have not heard of Perma.cc before; who is using it?

  • Perma.cc is in wide use in the legal research community, in part due to the demonstrated link rot in Supreme Court opinions.  The Virginia Tech Undergraduate Historical Review, hosted by VT Publishing, is an early adopter.  At NYU-Shanghai, Dr. Eric Hundman's project uses newspaper articles to examine China's foreign policy.

• What if I have other questions?

  • Please read the Terms of Use.
  • See Perma.cc's documentation on creating Perma.cc records and links and their FAQ, or email us at permacc@nyu.edu.