How can I include info from my physical books in Logos?

Rick Koelz
Rick Koelz Member Posts: 41
edited November 21 in English Forum

I have several physical books that I would like to include in my Logos research. I'm looking for a solution other than scanning and building Personal Books.

I would like to include the Table of Contents or Indexes (or Notes) from these books in the Logos database so my research would point me to them on my bookshelves. 

Should I build a Personal Book of the Table of Contents and/or Indexes from these books? Or should I create Notes with this information? How do you handle this?

I'm looking for suggestions or examples.

Thanks in Advance.

Tagged:

Comments

  • Fred Chapman
    Fred Chapman Member Posts: 5,899 ✭✭✭

    I don't use print books, but given that this question seems to be coming up a lot recently, I guess there are some that still do.

    I would point you to this thread for a recent discussion of this topic

  • Doc B
    Doc B Member Posts: 3,544 ✭✭✭

    I have several physical books that I would like to include in my Logos research. I'm looking for a solution other than scanning and building Personal Books.

    Those two sentences are pretty much contradictory, as your only solution to including books into Logos is to make PBs.

    Yes, you can make notes files, but getting these to appear in certain searches may be problematic. And the bigger problem is, having PBs of just the ToCs will commonly miss key words. Indices (indexes) will be better but still not comprehensive.

    If I have something I desperately need accessible in a Logos search, here's what I use- https://scanmarker.com/product/scanmarker-air/

    There is a better solution on the horizon though. This looks promising- https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/czur-scanner-build-your-own-digital-library--2#/ and there are others like it, some even under $200.

    Eating a steady diet of government cheese, and living in a van down by the river.

  • Rosie Perera
    Rosie Perera Member Posts: 26,202 ✭✭✭✭✭

    There is a better solution on the horizon though. This looks promising- https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/czur-scanner-build-your-own-digital-library--2#/ and there are others like it, some even under $200.

    Not just on the horizon. It has shipped: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07JMTPJ8S

    And I see it comes with "FREE SOFTERWARE". Ha ha! [:P]

  • JT (alabama24)
    JT (alabama24) MVP Posts: 36,489

    I have several physical books that I would like to include in my Logos research. I'm looking for a solution other than scanning and building Personal Books.

    Those two sentences are pretty much contradictory, as your only solution to including books into Logos is to make PBs.

    This is useless now, and I don't know if there would be time where it would be of much value to FL, but... 

    It would be cool if you could enter the ISBN number of your print books and have a separate area within searches with links to purchase the book in Logos. Users could also receive emails for books which are not in the catalog now but go into prepub later. 

    macOS, iOS & iPadOS | Logs |  Install

  • J. Remington Bowling
    J. Remington Bowling Member Posts: 630

    If I have something I desperately need accessible in a Logos search, here's what I use- https://scanmarker.com/product/scanmarker-air/

    There is a better solution on the horizon though. This looks promising- https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/czur-scanner-build-your-own-digital-library--2#/ and there are others like it, some even under $200.

    Really no need to spend so much money. You can get an iOS app called ScannerPro that does a really good job taking a picture and converting it to PDF with OCR (convert image to text). I think it costs somewhere between $5 or $7. Or, if you want an app that is even better in some ways and completely free, just download the Microsoft OneDrive app. The scanner in that sometimes has better quality than ScannerPro. You can then drop the PDF into OneNote and the text will be searchable. 

    For getting that into Logos you might want to scan the TOC and index of your physical book, copy the text from the document after performing OCR and then paste it into a Word file and create a PB that way.

    As far as scanning entire books, it's not really worth the time and effort to do that much content. . . you could have just read half the book by then, made highlights and put those in to the Note tool in Logos. 

    Potato resting atop 2020 Mac Pro stand.

  • Doc B
    Doc B Member Posts: 3,544 ✭✭✭

    it's not really worth the time and effort

    I suppose that's up to the individual user, not you or me. [H]

    As for the scanning pen, I don't scan whole books, but scan sections, sentences, or phrases directly into Word so I can easily make a personal book if needed. (And by the way, they are having a Spring Break sale, so I've seen-

    you could have just read half the book by then, made highlights and put those in to the Note tool in Logos

    As for that, I would challenge just about anybody to read half a book, make highlights, and put that into Notes in the time you could scan the whole book with the CZUR-type scanner. If you've never tried one, most college libraries have them in use; go there and try it out. It is amazingly easy, fast, and practical. I'm planning to get one sometime in the next year at the prices I'm now seeing.

    Eating a steady diet of government cheese, and living in a van down by the river.

  • J. Remington Bowling
    J. Remington Bowling Member Posts: 630

    I suppose that's up to the individual user, not you or me.

    What you didn't know that I was the Czar of Time and Effort? Sorry bud. Not worth it.

    As for the scanning pen, I don't scan whole books, but scan sections, sentences, or phrases directly into Word so I can easily make a personal book if needed. (And by the way, they are having a Spring Break sale, so I've seen-

    Sweet. Now I can go to Ibiza and scan books on the beach like the model in the promo video. 

    As for that, I would challenge just about anybody to read half a book, make highlights, and put that into Notes in the time you could scan the whole book with the CZUR-type scanner. If you've never tried one, most college libraries have them in use; go there and try it out. It is amazingly easy, fast, and practical. I'm planning to get one sometime in the next year at the prices I'm now seeing.

    I had in mind the ScannerPro method. You may be right about the CZUR scanner but not worth the time or effort to accept your challenge.

    Potato resting atop 2020 Mac Pro stand.