How would you improve Print Library?

Mark Barnes (Logos)
Mark Barnes (Logos) Administrator, Logos Employee Posts: 1,888
edited November 21 in English Forum

Are you using Print Library and have suggestions for its improvement? Or would you like to use Print Library, but don't because it lacks a crucial feature? We'd love to hear from you in this special survey:

Click to participate: Help us improve Print Library for everyone

One little improvement that is already in beta, is that we're now showing all the page numbers when results span more than one page. Previously we'd only show the first page number within each article.

We're also working on improving the mobile app so that you'll be able to add books without barcodes - either by typing the ISBN manually or by searching for the book as you do on Desktop.

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Comments

  • MJ. Smith
    MJ. Smith Member, MVP Posts: 53,086 ✭✭✭✭✭

    clicking says we lack permission to access

    Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."

  • Mal Walker
    Mal Walker Member Posts: 389 ✭✭✭

    Yeah, getting the same issue - don't have permission to access.

    Current MDiv student at Trinity Theological College - Perth, Western Australia

  • Phillip J. Long
    Phillip J. Long Member Posts: 24

    When I click the link I get a google form I don't have permission to use.

    Unlikely: I would like to be able to copy/paste from snippet view, but I get why that is not going to happen.

    More likely: I would like to be able to copy the bibliographical reference to paste into a paper, or even to copy into a note. I realize I can copy from the library and add the pages manually, but it would be nice to make a quick-click and add ref to a note.

  • Mark Barnes (Logos)
    Mark Barnes (Logos) Administrator, Logos Employee Posts: 1,888

    clicking says we lack permission to access

    My apologies. I should have tested it in an incognito window. I've now fixed the access problem.

  • Mark Barnes (Logos)
    Mark Barnes (Logos) Administrator, Logos Employee Posts: 1,888

    I would like to be able to copy/paste from snippet view, but I get why that is not going to happen.

    This should already be possible. Just select the text from within the search snippet with the mouse, then right-click or press Ctrl/Cmd+C. If you start selecting in the left margin, that won't work. You need to start you selection within the snippet itself.

  • Roger Pitot
    Roger Pitot Member Posts: 190 ✭✭

    I would love to see results from my print library in the passage guide. At my age, it's easy to forget which commentaries I have in print!

  • Barry Hoffman
    Barry Hoffman Member Posts: 1

    Agree 100%.  It seems that the Print Library feature is still isolated from the rest of the functionality.  Yes, you can search through your Print Library if you specify one or more books in your Print Library as the search domain. However, it should work seamlessly with other searches that you might do.  Roger mentions Passage Guide as one of them.

  • Phillip J. Long
    Phillip J. Long Member Posts: 24

    I cannot select any text in the snippet view. I thought it might be a publisher thing, so tried books from Zondervan, Crossway, Kregel, W&S, B&H, and Baker. No copy/paste for any Print Library book

    I can create a bibliography and export to Word, etc.

    I am using 10.1.0056, MacBook Pro (M1 Max 2021), Monterey

  • Kathleen Marie
    Kathleen Marie Member Posts: 812

    I just purchased the print library feature today. I am still trying to figure out how to use citations and bibliography for the print library. I will eventually figure it out, but students will be the ones most interested in creating citations from the print library. We tend to be overwhelmed with trying to learn three types of software at the same time we are writing papers.

    I'd love some training that targets students even if it is mostly advertisement. Exhausted students are going to hit "buy" if you make it easy enough for us. If you can make it unnecessary to use a separate citation manager, we are going to be willing to invest more in Logos. If you can create an undergraduate paper writing template that makes it unnecessary to use Word, we will invest even more in Logos.

  • Bob Robinson
    Bob Robinson Member Posts: 4

    It is very dissapointing that the Print Library is not included in the Passage Guide.

    I assumed that it would! It only makes sense: I am studying a passage and I want to see what commentaries I own for that passage. The ones in Logos are listed (and I have even taken the time to prioritize my favorites).

    However, I wanted to see in the list the commentaries the ones that I own in my print library. That way, I can be alerted that I have that resource and I can be sure to lift that book off my shelf when I need it. It seems simple enough to include that in the Passage Guide.

    Again, it's frustrating that it isn't.

  • Mal Walker
    Mal Walker Member Posts: 389 ✭✭✭

    As with everyone else, inclusion of the print library into guides and workflows seems like a obvious improvement. I would also love to see print library resources able to be prioritized instead of just digital resources.

    Current MDiv student at Trinity Theological College - Perth, Western Australia

  • Blake Bottomley
    Blake Bottomley Member Posts: 2

    I have several books without barcodes. I called and got the same answer that is in the forum. Click add to library in the library tab. It adds it to the library but when you open it, it still says you don't have access to this book go to our site to buy. I have it but it is in hardback. The tech on the phone said you could type in the number on the App. but I have found no place to do that. Help would be appreciated. Thanks

    Blake

  • Justin Gatlin
    Justin Gatlin Member Posts: 1,995 ✭✭✭

    I have several books without barcodes. I called and got the same answer that is in the forum. Click add to library in the library tab. It adds it to the library but when you open it, it still says you don't have access to this book go to our site to buy. I have it but it is in hardback. The tech on the phone said you could type in the number on the App. but I have found no place to do that. Help would be appreciated. Thanks

    Hi Blake, you can't read your print library books in Logos (or anybody could go to the bookstore and enter every ISBN). But they will show up in your searches and give you the page number of the contents you want.

  • Br Damien-Joseph OSB
    Br Damien-Joseph OSB Member Posts: 220 ✭✭✭

    Print Library seems to be useless with books that were produced through the Faithlife Ebooks process, on account of their lack of page numbers. If your search produces Print Library results from books you own in print but FL owns in Faithlife Ebooks, well you're out of luck. This may seem like a different topic, but I cannot understate how important it is for the whole Logos/Verbum technological ecosystem that these books get their page numbers added in. The technology is behind Amazon's mass-produced ebooks... and when the prices match, I wish it were a no-brainer to buy FL's copy, but I need to cite page numbers in my papers and even in books I read for pleasure, on account of how often I want to share something with a confrere and need a page number to refer them to. This seems to be standard now everywhere but Faithlife.

    Adding this would be HUGE for FL overall. Hope to see it someday!

  • MJ. Smith
    MJ. Smith Member, MVP Posts: 53,086 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Print Library seems to be useless with books that were produced through the Faithlife Ebooks process

    That is correct because Faithlife Ebooks are treated as part of the standard library along with Logos Research and Logos Readers editions. The information available through the library is the sum total of the information available on the books.

    Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."

  • NB.Mick
    NB.Mick Member, MVP Posts: 15,850 ✭✭✭

    Print Library seems to be useless with books that were produced through the Faithlife Ebooks process, on account of their lack of page numbers. If your search produces Print Library results from books you own in print but FL owns in Faithlife Ebooks, well you're out of luck.

    I personally don't think so. If I search a print library book for a word or a phrase, I will get a big chunk (say half a paragraph) of context around the actual search hit, which means

    • it will help me to evaluate whether this hit really is something that I want to explore further. In many case it will help to sort out signal from noise (or whatever metaphor you like). Very useful, in my opinion.
    • it possibly gives me enough to understand the author's reasoning without finding the book and locating the place in it - this saves much effort.
    • it even allows me to copy and paste from this chunk of text into a note or a document I'm working on.
    • if the Print Library book actually is in Kindle, PDF or other searchable electronic format, I have text copied to locate the exact search hit
    • it gives me the front matter of the book in the "you don't have a license" preview, probably enough to give proper attribution.
    • if I really need to open a paper book and find the search hit, I have a section title (such as Chapter 21: xxxxx) and most often the beginning of a paragraph - this will be quick.

    That's a lot of help compared to what we used to have before (nothing).

    I understand that page numbers may make locating or referencing a halfway precise location in a printed book easier. On the other hand, from my understanding of the eBook production process (and that it is a very low-margin, not really well-managed part of FL's business), building page numbers into those books would be a massive and costly undertaking, taking away resources from actually producing books. And datatypes. And putting proper datatypes into books where they belong. Not to mention cross references. And a lot more things - if there were up to ten slots for tasks in the book production, I'd rank adding page numbers to eBooks not higher than eleven. 

    Have joy in the Lord! Smile

  • Beloved Amodeo
    Beloved Amodeo Member Posts: 4,181 ✭✭✭

    Or would you like to use Print Library, but don't because it lacks a crucial feature?
    I'm not quite sure I qualify to take your survey. I don't use this feature because the vast majority of my print books are not in the FL catalogue.

    It makes little sense to me to use this feature for one or two books.

    Meanwhile, Jesus kept on growing wiser and more mature, and in favor with God and his fellow man.

    International Standard Version. (2011). (Lk 2:52). Yorba Linda, CA: ISV Foundation.

    MacBook Pro MacOS Sequoia 15.1 1TB SSD 

  • Mark Barnes (Logos)
    Mark Barnes (Logos) Administrator, Logos Employee Posts: 1,888

    I have several books without barcodes. I called and got the same answer that is in the forum.

    If you have the most recent version (v23) of the mobile app, you should be able to enter ISBNs manually from within the ISBN scanner tool (or search by title/author).

  • Justin Gatlin
    Justin Gatlin Member Posts: 1,995 ✭✭✭

    It makes little sense to me to use this feature for one or two books.

    I disagree. If you put the handful of books you own into the software, they will show up in your searches when you need them. That seems valuable to  me no matter how many of how few there are.

  • Bruce Roth
    Bruce Roth Member Posts: 328 ✭✭

    I think I posted something like this on another thread, but I think there is more to the Print Library than just cataloging my own print books. 

    I have added some of my books, both Kindle, paper books and even a couple of resources that exist in competitors products.  I haven't used the feature all that much, but I can see hits that refer to the book and I can look it up if i desire. 

    But I can also see where I can maybe add books that maybe my friends have or maybe my church library might contain.  Also I have access to my local library that has ebooks available via an app called Hoopla and I notice it has an extensive inventory of Christian books.  I see quite an inventory of IVPress and Eerdmans books as well as others.  Why not add those that exist in Logos that interest me and find pointers to them?

    I also see where it could be useful in allowing one to preview a book to see if there is enough content to perhaps purchase the resource on Logos.  Add books off your wishlist for example.

  • Br Damien-Joseph OSB
    Br Damien-Joseph OSB Member Posts: 220 ✭✭✭

    I understand that page numbers may make locating or referencing a halfway precise location in a printed book easier. On the other hand, from my understanding of the eBook production process (and that it is a very low-margin, not really well-managed part of FL's business), building page numbers into those books would be a massive and costly undertaking, taking away resources from actually producing books. And datatypes. And putting proper datatypes into books where they belong. Not to mention cross references. And a lot more things - if there were up to ten slots for tasks in the book production, I'd rank adding page numbers to eBooks not higher than eleven. 

    On the contrary, Amazon seems to have done it with a catalog far bigger than FL's, and I don't imagine they would spend a lot of money if the only process were to do it by hand, as it were. I suspect that there is a way to do it, but it requires thinking outside of the box and breaking out of siloed processes. For example, I imagine that not every publisher sends FL their ebooks in the same format, and the data for pagination exists somewhere in at least some of these publisher's documents. It could be a matter of rewriting a single script (or maybe a couple scripts) and reprocessing those books to now have page numbers. Or it could be a matter of doing this with only the publishers who send their ebooks with the data that's easiest to script into FL ebooks page numbers. It's unimaginable that the only way to do this is by hand--we should be well beyond 2003's methods and tools. Taking resources away from other projects, as you say, ought to be very minimal in 2023.

  • Andrew Batishko
    Andrew Batishko Member, Logos Employee Posts: 5,362

    Just to be clear, we do add page numbers for ebooks, but only when the content from the publisher actually includes page numbers. The problem is that most of the ebook content the publishers provide does not include any page numbers.

    Faithlife ebooks generally do not get any hand editing.

    Andrew Batishko | Logos software developer

  • PL
    PL Member Posts: 2,134 ✭✭✭

    Many Kindle ebooks only show a "Location" instead of page numbers. I've written many seminary papers citing the ebook location and it's been acceptable.

  • Richard Krahn
    Richard Krahn Member Posts: 3

    I'd love to use Print Library, but I'm not wealthy enough.  It's that simple.  I'm a simple parish pastor, teaching at a small high school, with barely enough money to pay my mortgage.  I've owned Logos since 2.0.  I've spend hundreds of dollars since the mid 1990's on books and updates.  Yet I'm getting priced out.  I didn't know until I had wasted $50 on a basic upgrade to Logos 10 that this feature isn't included in that.  If I want this feature, I have to pay FIFTEEN HUNDRED DOLLARS.  That's insane, and it's really turning me sour on the whole Logos production.

    In short, I'd love to use this feature, but you've priced it at an insane place.

  • Mike Binks
    Mike Binks Member, MVP Posts: 7,428 ✭✭✭

    I didn't know until I had wasted $50 on a basic upgrade to Logos 10 that this feature isn't included in that.  If I want this feature, I have to pay FIFTEEN HUNDRED DOLLARS.

    1. You can get a refund of your $50 dollars just by asking Customer Services - Faithlife don't want you to pay for stuff you neither want nor need.

    2. Have you considered a subscription to connect? If, indeed, and which I seriously doubt, you need to pay $1500 dollars, to get the print library function then if it comes with a connect subscription you will have had to live for another 100 months before you start to loose money and by then you will be enjoying all the other benefits that come along in the next 8 years.

    tootle pip

    Mike

    How to get logs and post them.   (now tagging post-apocalyptic fiction as current affairs) Latest Logos, MacOS, iOS and iPadOS

  • Richard Krahn
    Richard Krahn Member Posts: 3

    As I understand it - again, after I spent the money to upgrade - the Print Library feature only comes with Gold packages and above.  Since you for some reason don't believe me, here's a screenshot of what it would cost me to upgrade to a Gold package.  It actually dropped a few bucks since yesterday, because it was $1470-something yesterday.

    I've never heard of the "connect" subscription - I'll have to look into that.

  • Roger Pitot
    Roger Pitot Member Posts: 190 ✭✭

    Richard you should look at the Logos 10 Full Feature upgrade which will provide all the features but no additional resources (except interlinears). It will certainly be cheaper.

  • Br Damien-Joseph OSB
    Br Damien-Joseph OSB Member Posts: 220 ✭✭✭

    Just to be clear, we do add page numbers for ebooks, but only when the content from the publisher actually includes page numbers. The problem is that most of the ebook content the publishers provide does not include any page numbers.

    Faithlife ebooks generally do not get any hand editing.

    This is great news, Andrew! Thank you for the clarification. Now if only publishers would get with the times...

    As I understand it - again, after I spent the money to upgrade - the Print Library feature only comes with Gold packages and above.

    This is an incomplete understanding. As was mentioned above, you can get the Print Library feature with the full feature upgrade.

    Here for Logos: https://www.logos.com/product/228476/logos-10-full-feature-upgrade

    Here for Verbum: https://www.logos.com/product/228483/verbum-10-full-feature-upgrade

    It's still not cheap, but it's also not $1500.

  • Richard Krahn
    Richard Krahn Member Posts: 3

    Thanks for the pointer to the full feature upgrade, but as you said, that's still not cheap.  The rest of you must have budgets that I can only dream of.  I still see a whole lot of resources there that I don't want or need.  I'd be willing to pay $100 or so for an actual "full feature upgrade," but looking at the list describing that upgrade, it's much more than just a feature upgrade.  It seems to me I ought to be able to get something with the program, fully featured, but without all the commentaries, lectionaries, courses, lexicons, and interlinears that I don't want or need. 

  • Mike Binks
    Mike Binks Member, MVP Posts: 7,428 ✭✭✭

    Since you for some reason don't believe me, here's a screenshot of what it would cost me to upgrade to a Gold package.

    Yep your are correct - it seems that the Full Feature upgrade could well be a quarter of the price of the gold package that you displayed.

    The books you mention in your later post are actually the resources needed to allow the features to work. If you want the features you need the data in the resources that come with the set.

    The Connect subscription, which being a pastor I would recommend that you ask your congregation to pay, (a professional needs professional tools) would still be cost effect over two or three years without factoring in the other benefits.

    tootle pip

    Mike

    How to get logs and post them.   (now tagging post-apocalyptic fiction as current affairs) Latest Logos, MacOS, iOS and iPadOS