Using Books
This is a very simply question. I know that I am not the largest user of Logos, I have only 6,000 works in my library. But my dilemma is that I just do not know that I am utilizing all of the works that I have. I was looking through some reformed works in Logos and noticed that I have books that I have never used because I did not know that I had them. For example, the works of James Ussher. I own that collection and I am sure that it came part of a larger reformed collection that I purchased. But I did not know that I had it; therefore, I have never used it. Now, that makes me think to myself, "how many other useful books that I own that I could be using but I do not know about them".
I am sure that I am like a lot of pastor and you get in a habit of using the same books and the same study pattern. And that is fine if that works for you, but it is a little frustrating to have books that you have purchased and never used because you did not know that you had them. I guess this is the down side of having a larger library.
I have many, many collections that I have created, but I just wish that there was a way to streamline the books that I have and feel confident that when I study that I am using the books I own.
Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.
Comments
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Pastor Michael Huffman said:
Any suggestions?
I have a few suggestions:
- At least get to know your commentary sets, and then prioritise useful ones you find. It's not perfect because commentaries within a set are uneven, but to save time, you could quickly evaluate one or two commentaries out of each major set you own.
- Do the same with your encyclopaedias. Open the Factbook to a simple entry you're familiar with, and quickly evaluate all the encyclopaedias that show up.
- Searching obviously surfaces books you might not be familiar with. If you stumble across something useful, rate it at four or five stars (and prioritise it if it's a lexicon/encyclopaedia or commentary). That should help you to find it in the future (a 'favourite resources' collection that gathers 4/5 star-rated books also helps).
- Filter your library to only show resources that other people rate highly, but that you haven't rated yet: (rating:>=4 myrating:0). There's probably some gems in there worth exploring.
- If you haven't got into the habit of starring your most used books, sort your library by Reading Status so you can easily find books you've used a reasonable amount. Then star them to add them to your 'favourite' collection.
- When you're researching a topic, remember filter your library by subject:nameOfTopic (e.g. subject:prayer, subject:reconciliation, etc.). That will sometimes unearth a few gems.
This is my personal Faithlife account. On 1 March 2022, I started working for Faithlife, and have a new 'official' user account. Posts on this account shouldn't be taken as official Faithlife views!
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Mark Barnes said:Pastor Michael Huffman said:
Any suggestions?
I have a few suggestions:
- At least get to know your commentary sets, and then prioritise useful ones you find. It's not perfect because commentaries within a set are uneven, but to save time, you could quickly evaluate one or two commentaries out of each major set you own.
- Do the same with your encyclopaedias. Open the Factbook to a simple entry you're familiar with, and quickly evaluate all the encyclopaedias that show up.
- Searching obviously surfaces books you might not be familiar with. If you stumble across something useful, rate it at four or five stars (and prioritise it if it's a lexicon/encyclopaedia or commentary). That should help you to find it in the future (a 'favourite resources' collection that gathers 4/5 star-rated books also helps).
- Filter your library to only show resources that other people rate highly, but that you haven't rated yet: (rating:>=4 myrating:0). There's probably some gems in there worth exploring.
- If you haven't got into the habit of starring your most used books, sort your library by Reading Status so you can easily find books you've used a reasonable amount. Then star them to add them to your 'favourite' collection.
- When you're researching a topic, remember filter your library by subject:nameOfTopic (e.g. subject:prayer, subject:reconciliation, etc.). That will sometimes unearth a few gems.
Great suggestion, Mark. Thanks! Any way you would be willing to post a video on performing some of those things? Thanks again
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Mark Barnes said:Pastor Michael Huffman said:
Any suggestions?
I have a few suggestions:
- At least get to know your commentary sets, and then prioritise useful ones you find. It's not perfect because commentaries within a set are uneven, but to save time, you could quickly evaluate one or two commentaries out of each major set you own.
- Do the same with your encyclopaedias. Open the Factbook to a simple entry you're familiar with, and quickly evaluate all the encyclopaedias that show up.
- Searching obviously surfaces books you might not be familiar with. If you stumble across something useful, rate it at four or five stars (and prioritise it if it's a lexicon/encyclopaedia or commentary). That should help you to find it in the future (a 'favourite resources' collection that gathers 4/5 star-rated books also helps).
- Filter your library to only show resources that other people rate highly, but that you haven't rated yet: (rating:>=4 myrating:0). There's probably some gems in there worth exploring.
- If you haven't got into the habit of starring your most used books, sort your library by Reading Status so you can easily find books you've used a reasonable amount. Then star them to add them to your 'favourite' collection.
- When you're researching a topic, remember filter your library by subject:nameOfTopic (e.g. subject:prayer, subject:reconciliation, etc.). That will sometimes unearth a few gems.
Also, I am wanting to know the best way to search maps based on a passage to get the best results.
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Mark Barnes said:
At least get to know your commentary sets, and then prioritise useful ones you find. It's not perfect because commentaries within a set are uneven, but to save time, you could quickly evaluate one or two commentaries out of each major set you own.
Creating complex rules for => Canonical Commentary Collections personally included adding title prefixes to English commentaries => https://community.logos.com/forums/p/139386/890581.aspx#890581 so alphabetic sort of commentaries is now chronological.
The Complete Classic Commentaries Bundle 3.0 has many volumes whose Title is the name of the Bible book. Adding prefix with year and author differentiated volumes. Caveat: some public domain resources are challenging to determine publication year so sometimes used year of author's earthly tent departure. International Critical Commentary Series (ICC) (61 vols.) ranges from 1896 publication of Luke volume to 2014 publication of Isaiah.
Mark Barnes said:When you're researching a topic, remember filter your library by subject:nameOfTopic (e.g. subject:prayer, subject:reconciliation, etc.). That will sometimes unearth a few gems.
Subject filtering of library effective finds Edition:Logos resources with Subject metadata. Vyrso eBooks do not have Subject. Filtering library by topical words includes description. For example, my library has 101 Vyrso eBooks that have prayer in the Title and/or Description
Pastor Michael Huffman said:Also, I am wanting to know the best way to search maps based on a passage to get the best results.
One suggestion is Media search for Maps with passage reference. For example, searched for Maps related to Daniel:
Keep Smiling [:)]
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Mark Barnes said:
At least get to know your commentary sets, and then prioritise useful ones you find. It's not perfect because commentaries within a set are uneven, but to save time, you could quickly evaluate one or two commentaries out of each major set you own.
Creating complex rules for => Canonical Commentary Collections personally included adding title prefixes to English commentaries => https://community.logos.com/forums/p/139386/890581.aspx#890581 so alphabetic sort of commentaries is now chronological.
The Complete Classic Commentaries Bundle 3.0 has many volumes whose Title is the name of the Bible book. Adding prefix with year and author differentiated volumes. Caveat: some public domain resources are challenging to determine publication year so sometimes used year of author's earthly tent departure. International Critical Commentary Series (ICC) (61 vols.) ranges from 1896 publication of Luke volume to 2014 publication of Isaiah.
Mark Barnes said:When you're researching a topic, remember filter your library by subject:nameOfTopic (e.g. subject:prayer, subject:reconciliation, etc.). That will sometimes unearth a few gems.
Subject filtering of library effective finds Edition:Logos resources with Subject metadata. Vyrso eBooks do not have Subject. Filtering library by topical words includes description. For example, my library has 101 Vyrso eBooks that have prayer in the Title and/or Description
Pastor Michael Huffman said:Also, I am wanting to know the best way to search maps based on a passage to get the best results.
One suggestion is Media search for Maps with passage reference. For example, searched for Maps related to Daniel:
Keep Smiling
Thanks for the help!
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One thing I did was hide books I know for a fact I do not use. I started with Latin resources, I don't read Latin yet so I removed them all from my library. In the end I hid about 2500 resources but those are books I know I do not use. That thins out the library to find books I do use or will use later. I made it a habit to read certain books and tag them as read over time. Those resources are growing, but sometimes you find something a pure gem and I have the Gem collection too. Finding what is in your library takes some active measures you should constantly update and improve over time. I love Mark's idea of other people's rating, I never tried that but I will.
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