When is a DICTIONARY not a Dictionary?

Answer: When Logos decides to assign one of the following TYPEs instead:

Encyclopedia, Lexicon, Media Collection, Glossary, Monograph, Bible, Biblical Theology, Manual, Journal, Ancient Manuscript, Atlas, Bible Concordance, Bibliography, Cross-Reference Index, Quotations, Systematic Theology, and Thesaurus!

See attached screengrab of a "Dictionary" search that I did today in my Logos10 Library.

Of the 143 results only 3 appeared as TYPE: Dictionary, while 71 appeared as TYPE: Encyclopedia.

What is this weird assigning of TYPEs all about?

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Accepted answers

Kyle G. Anderson

I think your main question is: "what is the distinction between Encyclopedia and Dictionary?".

Even though your search isn't for titles, the absence or presence of "Dictionary" in a title isn't enough to determine its classification.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary has a type of "Dictionary" while Lexham Bible Dictionary has a type of "Encyclopedia" even though both have "Dictionary" in their title.

This is because they're two different categories of books. They serve different purposes. So rather than lump them in a category based on title they have different types based on form and purpose.

As for all the different results you're getting: It was an aggressive search. It's hitting the description of books as well as their title so you'll see all sorts of different types because its pulling in a larger variety of books.

Simon’s Brother

Running a simple search with the word "dictionary" is going to return false hits This is because you are searching not just the title but all fields. For instance I get seven resources of the type bible and these show up because the word dictionary appears in the description.

Now if you change your search to: title:dictionary you will get a much smaller list.

When is a dictionary not a dictionary:

Lexicon: Specialized dictionary focussed on original languages

Encyclopedia: Dictionary that tends to have longer entries that are articles about a topic rather than definitions

Glossary: Typically we understand these as a list of short definitions that appear at the end of a book. In Logos some glossaries perform a similar function in that they relate to specific datasets and define the terminology used around these data sets. But other resources smaller "dictionaries" might also show up as a glossary in Logos such as a dictionary of terms.

Dictionary: What we typically refer to as a Dictionary, such as Collins English Dictionary.

The exact line between how Logos applies each of these types can be a little blurred at times to users and if you see a resource with a type that you don't understand the choice then post a question about it on the forums.

To get a better view of what "dictionaries" (books that define or describe things for us) you have in your library I would suggest running the followign search:

type:(dictionary,encyclopedia,glossary,lexicon)

This hopefully will then help you see more clearly the distinction between the distinct types used for this broad category of book and how it is refined in Logos

Note: I see Kyle got his response out quicker than mine but hopefully what I have said is still helpful.

All comments

Kyle G. Anderson

Simon’s Brother

Now if you change your search to: title:dictionary you will get a much smaller list.

When is a dictionary not a dictionary:

Lexicon: Specialized dictionary focussed on original languages

Encyclopedia: Dictionary that tends to have longer entries that are articles about a topic rather than definitions

Dictionary: What we typically refer to as a Dictionary, such as Collins English Dictionary.

To get a better view of what "dictionaries" (books that define or describe things for us) you have in your library I would suggest running the followign search:

type:(dictionary,encyclopedia,glossary,lexicon)

This hopefully will then help you see more clearly the distinction between the distinct types used for this broad category of book and how it is refined in Logos

Note: I see Kyle got his response out quicker than mine but hopefully what I have said is still helpful.

MJ. Smith

We have tried for years to get firm definitions of all of the categories without success because the type has requirements e.g. a Bible commentary must be indexed by Bible references. But most of the categories are self-explanatory if you are familiar with them in a research library. Do you know the differences between lexicons, glossaries, dictionaries? Glossaries in Logos are loaded with software-tagging definitions; manuals are primarily used for Logos documentations. I think the remainder in your list are normal usage. There are a few categories e.g. Bible study, study guide where I am a bit confused... and there are some books especially in Church History-Biography-Liturgical that I could not always correctly classify a book. But it you have questions especial when using type for searches and collections, ask in the forums - we worked with them for many years.

Philip C. Bennett

Now if you change your search to: title:dictionary you will get a much smaller list

Thanks for this helpful tip.