Morris Proctor's Tips & Tricks

I have received several e-mails recently asking various questions about the Theological Journal Library (TJL). So today I’ll pass along a couple tips on searching the journals.

Search Collections

First, when you install the TJL, Libronix collections are created for each journal as well as a complete collection of all the journals. To see these collections:

• Open the Galaxie Software Home Page in Libronix by clicking the small black arrow next to the Home icon on your Libronix toolbar (opening this home page one time after installation is what creates the collections for you)
• Open the Basic Search, Topic Browser or Reference Browser and click on the In drop down list to select which journals to search

Of course you can create your own search collections of journals at Tools | Define Collections.

Topic Search

There are several helpful ways to search the journals including by topic, Bible reference, phrase or author.

The journals are topically indexed so you can easily search them with the Topic Browser:

• Open the Topic Browser from the Go menu
• Set the In list to desired journals
• Type a single word in the Find box like redemption or inerrancy
• Click Search
• All of the Topics containing your word are listed
• Click a specific topic from the list to display all of the locations for that topic

Posted by Morris Proctor at 06:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As I explain in Camp Logos, not all Libronix books are created the same. Some Libronix e-books are indexed according to topics while others are not. Topically indexed books imply that somehow, some way the pages of the books have been tagged according to the subject matter on them. Such books can be searched with the Topic Browser yielding more specific results than those books merely searched by word with the Basic Search dialog. In other words, would you rather find every occurrence of the word “suffering” in your library or where that “subject” is discussed in a meaningful way?

Resources such as the Early Church Fathers, Theological Journals and Max Lucado books have all been topically indexed. Does this mean that non-topically indexed books are useless? Obviously not. It just means we have to employ some creativity in searching them. I like using a proximity search. With this proximity search we simulate topics on the page. For example, RC Sproul’s book Surprised by Suffering is not topically indexed. So we need to search for multiple words close to one another. Here’s how to do it:

• Open a non-topically indexed book like Surprised by Suffering
• Choose Search | Basic Search
• Set the In box to your book
• Type a query like this in the box: suffer within 7 words purpose
• Click Search

This search finds all the places in the book where suffer (suffering, suffers, etc.) occur within 7 words of purpose. In essence we’re looking for the “topic” the purpose of suffering.

To get really powerful type this in the Search box: suffer within 7 words (purpose,goal,reason)

Now we’ll find every time suffer occurs within 7 words of purpose or goal or reason all with one search!

The proximity search is not quite as powerful as a topic search but it is much better than just searching for a single word.

Posted by Morris Proctor at 06:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As you probably know, the goal of Bible study is to transport ourselves back to biblical times seeking to understand a passage the way the original author intended it for his original audience. This can be difficult at times because our culture is different from the biblical culture. Obviously they lived, spoke, and wrote differently than we do.

One book that helps bridge this cultural gap is New Manners and Customs of the Bible which appears in most Logos base collections. As with all manners and customs books, this resource explains the lifestyles of people in the Bible. Here, however, is one point you may not know. This book is versified not topically indexed! This means you can link it to a Bible so that if your verse under study is mentioned in Manners, it will jump right to it! Also, as you scroll through your commentaries with the left and right arrow keys this book is included in the loop!

Posted by Morris Proctor at 06:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Scattered throughout Libronix are numerous automated reports, none more practical than Auto-Lookup. This report does what its name says: it automatically looks up references for you. I’ll show a couple of helpful ways to use the report:
Lookup Footnotes

• Open the NET Bible which is filled with numerous footnotes (green text) some of which are too long to view in the temporary popup window which appears when your hover the cursor on the green text
• Select (highlight) a range of verses containing footnotes such as John 3.16-21
• Right click on the highlighted range of verses
• From the right menu select Auto-Lookup

All of the footnotes appear at one time in the Auto-Lookup window for your viewing pleasure!
Lookup Bible References

• Open a book containing numerous blue Bible cross references such as Naves Topical Bible
• Select (highlight) the text with the Bible references
• Right click on the highlighted text
• From the right menu select Auto-Lookup

Using your Preferred Bible the Auto-Lookup window displays all of your verses!

Posted by Morris Proctor at 06:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

When you generate a Passage Guide (PG) report one of the sections you may see is Biblical People (BP). BP is an automated report that displays a relationship graph of anyone mentioned in your passage.

To open the report just click one of the ovals (nodes) containing someone's name. The report builds for the name of the person you clicked.

To copy this image to another program like PowerPoint right click in a blank white area near the BP report and select Copy. Go to the other program and Paste the image (Ctrl + V).

Posted by Morris Proctor at 06:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)