Building a digital library on a zero budget
Building a digital library on a zero budget
We are living in an amazing age of information availability. Sadly, many are failing to take advantage of this miraculous gift. Books that we once had to travel to bookstores and libraries for are now available at a click of a button.
I was reminded of this fact this morning when I was updating my book on systematic theology. In one of the chapters of the current edition, I listed a short bibliography of recent books on systematic theology. For my update, I added this list of older systematic theologies:
Butler, J. J., and Ransom Dunn. Lectures on Systematic Theology. Boston: Morning Star, 1892.
Campbell, George. Lectures on Systematic Theology and Pulpit Eloquence. London: Printed for T. Cadell and W. Davies, 1807.
Chalmers, Thomas. Institutes of Theology. Edinburgh: Published for Thomas Constable by Sutherland and Knox, 1849.
Dabney, Robert Lewis. Syllabus and Notes of the Course of Systematic and Polemic Theology. Richmond, Va: Presbyterian Committee of Publication, 1885.
Denney, James. Studies in Theology: Lectures Delivered in Chicago Theological Seminary. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1904.
Finney, Charles G., and George Redford. Lectures on Systematic Theology. London: Wm. Tegg, 1851.
Foster, Robert Verrell. Systematic Theology. Nashville, Tenn: Cumberland Presbyterian Publishing House, 1898.
Hodge, Charles. Systematic Theology. V. II. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1872.
Hodge, Charles. Index to Systematic Theology. New York: Scribner, Armstrong, 1873.
Hodge, Charles. Systematic Theology. V. III. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1884.
Hodge, Charles. Systematic Theology. v. I. New York: Scribner's, 1895.
Hovey, Alvah. Manual of Systematic Theology and Christian Ethics. Boston: Young, 1877.
Johnson, E. H. Outline of Systematic Theology. Philadelphia: American Baptist publication Society, 1891.
Miley, John. Systematic Theology. 1892.
Mullins, Edgar Young. The Christian Religion in Its Doctrinal Expression. Philadelphia: Roger Williams Press, 1917.
Pepper, George D. B. Outlines of Systematic Theology. Philadelphia: J.A. Rogers Co., printers, 1873.
Pope, William B. A Compendium of Christian Theology: Being Analytical Outlines of a Course of Theological Study, Biblical, Dogmatic, Historical. London: Wesleyan Conference Off, 1877.
Raymond, Miner. Systematic Theology. V. III. New York, NY: Nelson and Phillips, 1879.
Schultze, Augustus. Christian Doctrine and Systematic Theology. Bethlehem, PA: Times Pub. Co, 1909.
Shedd, William G. T. Dogmatic Theology. New York: C. Scribner's, 1888.
Smith, Marcus. An Epitome of Systematic Theology. New York: J. Leavitt, 1829.
Strong, Augustus Hopkins. Systematic theology. Philadelphia: The Griffith & Rowland Press, 1907.
Strong, Augustus Hopkins. Outlines of Systematic Theology. Philadelphia: Griffith Press, 1908.
Wardlaw, Ralph, and James Robinson Campbell. Systematic Theology. Edinburgh: A. and C. Black, 1856.
Warfield, Benjamin Breckinridge, and James Orr. The Right of Systematic Theology. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1897.
I own a digital (.pdf) copy of each of these books. The only price I paid for this treasury is the time to download them because each of them is available on the internet as a free download. And it is not just systematic theology books that are available. I also have 373 books I label as "theology misc." I also have books by Advent Christian authors, books on annihilationism, archeology, bibliography, church history, conditionalism, 41 Greek lexicons, 20 Hebrew grammars, 23 Hebrew lexicons, 122 books on hell or final punishment, 24 books on hermeneutics, 18 books on church history, 110 books on immortality, 29 books on the intermediate state, 7 books on pastoral theology, 72 books on prayer, 13 books on the resurrection, 32 books of sermon collections, and 15 books about William Tyndale.
Oh, and don't forget commentaries. I created 78 folders to put all my biblical commentaries in. That includes a separate folder for books on the Bible as a whole (I have 13). Old Testament as a whole (162). Pentateuch (13). OT Law (5). Genesis (41). etc.
I have just begun this specific process a few months ago, so I have more commentaries on certain books because of the sermon series I am preaching on the commands of Christ. I have 23 books on the New Testament as a whole, 19 books on the Gospels, 174 books on Matthew, 46 on Mark, 102 on Luke, and 43 on John.
Where to find these resources:
1. University library websites.
One of my first finds was at the Warner Library at Eastern University. Follow this link:
https://libguides.eastern.edu/NTEB
2. Independent websites of commentary collections.
FreeCommentaries.com has a collection of over 6,600 commentaries by 5000 authors:
3. Google Advanced Book Search:
https://books.google.com/advanced_book_search
If you click on "Full view only" in the search section, and "Books" in the Content section, and "Commentary" in the Title section, it will get you started. At the moment I wrote this, the first entry was John Jason Owen's A Commentary, Critical, Expository, And Practical on the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, 1857. To download the book I went to the three dots on the upper right of the screen, and chose "Download this book." I chose to download it as a PDF. I followed the instructions on the next screen, clicked "Submit" and the download began. When it finished, I saved a copy of the file in my Commentaries directory in the Gospels folder.
4. WorldCat is a great place to find bibliographic information on your downloads.
https://www.worldcat.org/advancedsearch
From that website, I found this bibliographic information on Owen's commentary:
Owen, John J. A Commentary, Critical, Expository and Practical, on the Gospels of Matthew and Mark. New York: Leavitt & Allen, 1857.
I put a text file with this bibliographic reference in it in the same place I put the pdf file. That way, when I quote from Owen's book, I can also include the bibliographic reference.
5. Free online libraries are also a good source for collecting resources. I use the Open Library.
The first time you go to the site, you have the option to sign up. The library is free, by all means, sign up!
In the Open Library, try this: Click on Browse, Subjects, Religion, Bible, Commentaries, then type Romans in the search box and click Search. If the books listed have a blue "Borrow" marker, you can borrow those books from the library. You will not be able to download them, but you can save the link and borrow them as often as you like. If the book has a blue "Read" label, you can download it, and add the pdf to your collection.
6. It is not just books! The Open Library is a project of the Internet Achive:
If you sign up at the Open Library, you will also have access to the Internet archive. It has books, but it also has periodicals. For example, in the search box at the Internet Archive, type in "Advent Christian Witness" and click GO. The result is 11 volumes of The Advent Christian Witness from 1980-2006 which you can download and add to your digital library.
One of the advantages of a digital library is that you do not need to be at a certain place to access the files. They go wherever your computer is -- and if you have a laptop, that is just about anywhere. If you haven't started your digital collection yet, by all means, do so. Take advantage of this amazing age of information availability.