There are two URLs one could use for authors and titles in the OLL website: the long and the short version. The long version is used to draw information out of the database and display it correctly in the Content Management System.

So for Lord Acton we have the short URL /person/9 which tells us that he has ID number 9 in the "person" category. Then there is the long URL /?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Fperson=9&Itemid=28 which is usually displayed in the URL bar of your browser. If you look closely in the long URL you will see that there are two items of information towards the end of the URL: "person=9" and "Itemid=28" with the former giving the same information as the short URL and the latter telling the Content Management System how to display the information (surrounded by navigation bars and so forth).

For a title, say his The History of Freedom (1907) a similar situation arises: there is a short URL /title/75 which tells us that this is title number 75 in the database; and a long URL /index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=75&Itemid=28 which tells us much the same, that it is "title=75" and that the Content Management System has to dislay it in a particular way ("Itemid=28").

There is a simple way to find the short URL for a title. Go to the book or chapter page and click on the "Citation Button". This will display the full bibliographic information of the book, the short URL of the title or chapter of the title, and the date it was accessed. See the screen snapshots below for details:

You can then cut and paste this information from the citation button into your records:

John Emerich Edward Dalberg, Lord Acton, The History of Freedom and Other Essays, ed. John Neville Figgis and Reginald Vere Laurence (London: Macmillan, 1907).

Accessed from /title/75 on 2009-10-19

You can also find the short Author URL on this page. If you move your cursor over the author's name you will get the pop-up box with the brief author bio information as well as the short author URL in the bottom left of your browser. In a Mac, hold your cursor over the author's name, right click and select "Copy link location". You can then paste this short URL into another application or document.

So, that is the long and the short of it.