Nearly all printed materials from the Church are also available on LDS.org or in the Gospel Library mobile app. Going digital doesn’t mean giving up your printed materials completely—both may have their time and place in your life.
Consider which digital resources make sense for you:
- Versatile. There are some things, like video and audio, that you can’t have in print. Digital has everything in one place.
- Notetaking. With digital publications, you can highlight and take notes in scriptures, manuals, and other publications. They all sync to your computer and mobile devices and are searchable.
- Comprehensive. It’s like a huge library. You can carry Church publications in one hand and study them anywhere.
- Searchable. Search features can help you quickly find what you’re after.
- Shareable. If you like something, you can share it. It’s an easy way to share the gospel.
- Efficient. You have to order printed materials and wait for them to be shipped to you. With digital materials, you simply click Download and you have them in seconds. And all your digital materials fit on your computer or mobile device.
- Affordable. It costs you nothing to access digital Church materials; and the more people choose digital, the more the Church saves on printing, mailing, and inventory costs.
If you haven’t yet made the move to digital, there are plenty of people who can show you the way.
Adapted from the article “Church Materials–In Print or Digital?” from the Ensign, August 2014, p. 16.
I guess, I’m old school, I love the pages of a book. It’s easier to mark, highlight and make notes in. My granddaughter has said she wants my scriptures when I pass because of the notes and highlights in them. They are there at a glance and I don’t have to scroll.
I love using digital versions. I used to have to carry a satchel with all my scriptures, manuals, calendar, etc. Now I can carry all that on my mobile devices and still have all my highlights and notes.
But I know people who don’t own or feel comfortable using mobile devices and never will so there will continue to be a need for printed copies.
There are times that the electronic copies are nice, but the paper copies don’t run out of battery power or erase themselves. I stood up to give a talk from my e-reader once, only to find that I’d lost all my files between home and church. I tried keeping my scripture notes electronically with the same result. . . . But, I do like the ease of carrying the Gospel Library on a tablet for when I’m commuting to work or otherwise traveling. I especially like it for when a gospel question is asked in the lunch room at work. I will always have my “hard” copy of the scriptures; can’t imagine doing without them, but I do enjoy the times that the electronic copy is at hand.