Before I was laid off from both of my jobs, I did manage to grab at 2025 library, and I am enjoying the new libraries. Logos is already somewhat-moving in this direction, but here’s some feedback I shared with “the other guys” in the beta forums that I’ll also share here that I was pushing for (you can see it over there in re-naming the “switcher bundles”, that was my big push). I’ve been pushing for a radical change in base libraries. Instead of the current matrix “the other guys” are using or even the tiered structure Logos is using now (as with the “tiered” structure, it’s hard to explain who needs “Platinum”, “Diamond”, etc. The only thing useful about it is a sales rep using it as a means to upsell the customer into a larger tier.) to re-architect the base libraries around who are the customers, so a new structure could look like this:
- Bible Study Leader (Sunday School Teacher, Small Group Bible Study Leader, etc, books that would help prepare Bible study lessons for the non-professional)
- Preacher/Ministry Leader (Preacher, pastor, etc, books on preaching and sermon prep, books that help prepare expository messages, and books for pastors/ministry leaders)
- Greek Scholar (Books for Greek professors and Greek scholars, NT and LXX, grammars, lexicons, apparatus, etc)
- Hebrew Scholar (Books for Hebrew professors and Hebrew scholars, OT, grammars, lexicons, apparatus, etc)
- Professor (Books primarily for non-biblical language professors, Theology books, Spiritual Formation, Ethics, Missions, etc)
- Student (Poll all the major seminaries and put together a bundle of books geared for the M Div with biblical languages student)
- Possibly even a library for home users/families
- Possibly other libraries based on what other users are doing
The most difficult part would be trying to get publishers on board with the idea so the right mix of books at the right price would be there. The beauty of the new structure is the packages would sell themselves. A customer comes to Logos.com and can instantly buy the library they need based on how they’re studying the Bible. No matrix, no need to compare collections, they have what they need without a ton of “fluff”. If a person has multiple roles (a student who is a pastor), they can buy the two libraries that align with their Bible study roles.
Since it’s unlikely that these collections will have everything they need in one package, there could be some smaller addon bundles (and denominational addon bundles might be simpler than the matrix of denominational base libraries), plus the customer who buys a library also receives a single-use storewide coupon they could use to “top off” their library purchase with the remaining books they need. This would have been a huge benefit during my time in seminary (I could have purchased the student library and used the coupon to “top off” other textbooks I needed).
Another piece of feedback I made on “the other forums” I’ll mention here is I attended the Arkansas Baptist State Convention meeting when it was in Hot Springs, but no Bible software company was a vendor there. There are all sorts of smaller, denominational meetings that Logos will likely never have a chance to dispatch a full-time sales rep there. However, it would still be great to get a presence there. Logos could ramp up its referral program and when a Logos customer is planning to attend there, they connect with a Logos sales rep who can contact the denominational meeting and gain approval to allow the Logos customer to offer a referral there (so that the user isn’t doing anything the meeting would disprove of) and coordinate with the user to find out what libraries/resources would be the most popular items purchased at the meeting. They could then either build a flyer with a referral code or a QR code linking to a custom Logos store page for the duration of the event (maybe a few weeks afterward too) spotlighting those libraries and resources at a great sale price (maybe even offer a limited time single use storewide coupon and free trial of a Logos subscription). The user would bring their own computer/devices and while they wouldn’t have an official booth, they could sit somewhere during the meeting at different times and demo Logos to various attendees and give them the referral info. The attendees learn about Logos and get a chance to buy some Logos resources at a discount. The Logos user gets Logos book credit off of each referral sale. Everyone wins. It would be simpler than the old Logos “Ambassador” program that treated Logos users like contracted faux-employees (with tax forms, etc), and it also had annual sales quota minimums. The new program would be strictly referral in the form of Logos credits, and customers could participate as little or as much as they want, depending on what opportunities come their way.
As I gradually begin spending more time with Logos again, here are some of the main features/books I used with “the other guys” that I’d like to either see as feature requests in Logos (or uncover these features if they’re already here) or book requests to ease myself back into using Logos again more:
Features:
- 3D Bible Atlas (some form of 3D view in the Atlas)
- Live Click
- Additional sections from “the other guys” Info Pane added to Logos Insights
- Text Comparison works inside Bible panel with Multiple Versions
- Text Flow Diagrams works as a Visual Filter inside Bible panel
- More powerful search analytics
- Something along the lines of Amplify (in terms of ease of use, however, instead of all the menus, I’d like something that feels more like Spotlight on the Mac. I’d select a Bible word, hit a keystroke on my keyboard, enter the title of a resource, and I’d be able to then search that resource by heading)
- In-App Tutorials (might be handy for new users)
- Graphical Greek/Hebrew searching (I believe this can already be done with morph queries and syntax searches)
- Built-in Web Browser (but also make it completely disable able)
- Import TLG as Personal Book
- Flex/exact search toggle on in-line Bible and book searching
- BCV Verse Picker (similar to Wordsearch, plus I’d still love to see a Logos version of ZipScript)
- Search the Bible by Topic
- XOR, CONTENTS, HITS, INFER, FUZZY, RANGE, COUNT, TEXT Searching
- Slideshow Mode
- I’ll admit when it came to searching the KJV Bible, I actually used my copy of SwordSearcher on my Windows PC more than either Logos or “the other guys” since I’ve found that it offered the most powerful way to search the KJV Bible. However, I’m having to send back my Windows PC, so I’m Mac only at the moment. I’ll eventually need to grab a new Windows PC down the road.
Books:
- Life Principles Bible Second Edition
- Jewish Annotated Apocrypha (I don’t need it but I know plenty of Bible software users who want it!)
- John Warwick Montgomery Theology Collection
That’s all I have at the moment. I’ll continue to interact more as I have more time on my hands.
Thanks everyone for reading! I will miss working with my former colleagues, but I am now free to interact over here solely as a Logos user again and start enjoying my time in Logos. Plus now any positive or negative feedback I give will be genuine. :-)
