Using library expansions

Hi all,

I'm looking into the library expansion sale, but I'm curious what kind of ultimate benefit I'm going to get from some of these expansions. For instance, I'm looking at the Apologetics XL bundle, and it has a lot of really great books in it, but I'm wondering how Logos is going to really enhance the collection. In other words, I see these books being a great addition to my Kindle library, but I'm not sure how the Logos tools will really enhance them.

Can anyone give an example of how you are using them? To be specific, I know each library is geared towards different categories, but this is the first time I'm not just buying commentaries/dictionaries/journals. The aforementioned titles generally directly populate many tools in Logos, but I wouldn't think books in these libraries should have the same benefit.

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Graham Criddle

Can anyone give an example of how you are using them?

Some thoughts - and these are examples, it's not an area I particularly focus on. All "expanded" resources in the screenshots below are included in the Apologetics expansion at some level.

Some of the resources will show up in the Factbook when looking at various topics - such as Tertullian

Some resources will appear in Journal searches

It will add to your results when searching for what a particular author said

It can add to your results when researching a particular question

In general, if you just want to read the resource you can do that in Kindle.

If you want the resources to add to your research I would recommend having them in Logos

Adam Olean

Hi all,

I'm looking into the library expansion sale, but I'm curious what kind of ultimate benefit I'm going to get from some of these expansions. For instance, I'm looking at the Apologetics XL bundle, and it has a lot of really great books in it, but I'm wondering how Logos is going to really enhance the collection. In other words, I see these books being a great addition to my Kindle library, but I'm not sure how the Logos tools will really enhance them.

Can anyone give an example of how you are using them?

Hi, Josh. I'm sure someone else can give you a better answer. Nevertheless, it'll depend largely on the kind of resources that you're purchasing and how you want to use them. I'd imagine that the Apologetics bundle will have many monographs in it. In that case, the most obvious advantages that I can think of would probably include the quality of Logos Edition's (including their tagging of biblical references and other resources), advanced search features (e.g., searching for a verse, or a range of verses, within a resource, collection, or your entire library), and other tools and features such as Power Lookup, Information, Highlighting and Notes, Collections, tagging, etc. Reference works such as grammars, lexicons, and encyclopedias will have unique advantages of their own. It'll also depend on how much you like Logos's desktop and mobile applications.

I totally understand, however, that sometimes you just want to read a book on your Kindle. You could always consider reformatting and transferring Logos Editions to your Kindle for personal use. Some helpful Logos users have created guides on the forums (and Wiki?) for doing that very thing.

DAL

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/995183#Comment_995183

To me the price was the selling point. I got 40 new books at around $1.33 per book. One of the books I really wanted costs $19.99 by itself, so it was a no brainer for me. Besides that, the ability to search ”My Apologetics” Collection is a real time saver. 👍😁👌

DAL

Ps. I bought the XL Apologetics Bundle.

Adam Olean

Josh, you should also consider the value of Faithlife's dynamic pricing, which can make future purchases more affordable. Again, that'll depend largely on your priorities, interests, and budget.

DMB

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/995186#Comment_995186

I agree with DAL. Depends on your price per value. But aplogetic monographs normally would be Kindled.

I got the languages and ancient stuff, so Logos is the only value proposition.

JT (alabama24)

I see these books being a great addition to my Kindle library, but I'm not sure how the Logos tools will really enhance them.

I have thousands of kindle books, but many many more Logos books. Most of my kindle books were free or really cheap and are either 1) fiction 2) history or 3) business/administration.

My FAVORITE reading experience is on my Kindle Paperwhite... but it isnt for "study." Kindle books are great for reading cover-to-cover. Not so good for searching a library. That is the domain of Logos. My view: If I want a book in my "library," I buy it in Logos. If I just want to read a book and don't necessarily plan to reference it later, I can buy it in Kindle.

John Fidel

Can anyone give an example of how you are using them? To be specific, I know each library is geared towards different categories, but this is the first time I'm not just buying commentaries/dictionaries/journals. The aforementioned titles generally directly populate many tools in Logos, but I wouldn't think books in these libraries should have the same benefit.

Josh,

In addition to the other suggestions provided, there are two ways I have Logos utilize monographs. First, I set up a collection of those books. You can include types other than monographs.

Next I create a customized Topic Guide that adds this collection. When I open the Topic Guide to a particular subject, it will do a search for "large text" in the collection as shown below:

Next in the Cited By Tool, I add this collection and then link it to my bible text. Now I can quickly see if any resource in my collection references that text as shown below:

The use of collections and the cited by tool linked to a bible text is one of the quickest ways I use Logos to supplement the bible text I am studying.

If you need help setting up collections, a custom topic guide or cited by, let me know.

Jan Krohn

Whereas I appreciate monographs in Logos rather than in Kindle, I must also say that the tagging of the resources in the Apologetics XL collection is a bit poor compared to many other resources.

A couple of sample searches:

"Cosmological Argument" gives results from BECA in both the topic guide and factbook, but no links to Craig's work or other works from the collection.

"Jehovah's Witnesses" yields no result from the collection at all.

"Christian Apologetics" gives results from BECA and Alvin Plantinga's work.

"Darwinism" again yields no results from the collection - although BECA has an article on Darwin.

So one needs workarounds like John suggested.

By the way, were the first 10 volumes of the Journal of Biblical Apologetics removed from the collection? When I bought it back then, I got all 12 volumes.