Personal, meaningless review of new denominational packages

DMB

• Publishers backing out (Lynden): Possible, but typically, that'd be a slow process of contract renewal negotiations.
• Availability of new resources (Larry): Probably true (MJ notes the recent need for actually shipped). But all of the libraries?
• Shifting business emphasis model (EastTn): Since this is the first of the 'New Era', probably impacting it. Again, since the issue is across the board, a secondary issue?

I would have thought, profit maximizing (as also increased prices on the individual resources with a 5% off subscribers). But I look at this option as odd. The libraries historically have been a major motivator for spending money you shouldn't. So, why create unattractive libraries for subscribers?

A mystery.

Donovan R. Palmer

I am not sure what the profit margin is for Logos with these bundles, but in all the years I have been a Logos user, I have never been not tempted to splash out some cash on a new package. This might be a reflection of the size of my library, but the packages don’t play to my use case. Whether this is due to a shift to subscriptions, publisher pressures, or whatever… but a subscription in this new era is all I have spent my money on so far. Maybe the golden era of building libraries is over? The good news is that I am really grateful for what I have, so this is not entirely a bad thing! 🙂

John

@Donovan R. Palmer

Maybe the golden era of building libraries is over?

When major publishers allow their titles to be used in a subscription model, I think its over for Logos selling huge libraries.

Unless subscription prices are driven up too high. And there is no logical reason they would stay low. The sky is the limit.

Maybe there will be revival of interest in printed books, since they are actually cheaper now than electronic versions.

TheChosenOne

I just bought Baptist Platinum, Anglican Silver, and Wesleyan Gold.

Some thoughts:

1. Logos seems to be transitioning to a yearly library release. This increases the frequency which libraries are compiled to be published.
2. The pace of Libraries released will be faster than getting the resources in the ecosystem, plus resources are not published at that speed (Commentary series release 1-3 books per year). With this, the libraries will always include duplicate resources. In the long run, this means that the library quality "drops".
3. As some others have pointed out, Logos needs to strike deals with other publishers to include their books in the libraries. I suspect that given the post-pandemic era, publishers will be even more reluctant to allow Faithlife to include books in the packages since it does affect the publishers profit margin.
4. The new kind of library (Researcher, leader and preacher) but the lack of denom library variation (eg: eastern rite and etc) is a one step forward and one step back. I would like to see some other variation of denom libraries (Or target audience): Those from the theologically liberal tradition, and even some from the post-liberal theological tradition. A package for a none-denom packages, perhaps one for different global context (Think asia, africa). Again, I don't necessarily need to agree with the POV of the tradition.
   With this, the overlooked resources that cannot be included in the normal base library can be heavily discounted in a niche library.