The Gospel Library and PKM
Creating a system to link information from outside of the Gospel Library into the Library enhances gospel knowledge and growth
One of the new buzzwords in business is Personal Knowledge Management (PKM). It is an outgrowth of PIM (Personal Information Management) that was prominent in the 1980s. Interest in PKM has been growing since the late 1990s.
Regardless of the acronym used, it is the process of collecting and retrieving information one uses in personal and business situations. It is the storing of information, regardless of the format, in a way that can quickly be retrieved.
The information available on the internet has grown exponentially, making it easy to find answers. The problem is: Our minds can’t store all the information we are exposed to, so we turn to software that can store the information.
There is little use in storing information if we cannot retrieve it upon demand. The PKM movement is trying to solve the problem. A few months ago the book, “Building A Second Brain” by Tiago Forte was published. The author shares his method of collecting, storing and retrieving data and explains how his method can save one the frustration of searching for information.
The Gospel Library is also a PKM system for spiritual growth. It is an excellent resource to storing, retrieving and linking information within the Library, but how can we manage gospel information that is outside the Gospel Library? For example, a talk given at BYU or an academic paper on the Law of Moses? The answer is linking to outside resources within a Library Note.
The first step is deciding on where you are going to store the information. The storage needs to be able to store photos, URL’s, PDF documents, articles, and text. There are many options available, both free and fee based. To name a few, Evernote, Notion, and Obsidian.
Once you have decided where to store the information, you can create links to the material and paste the link in a Note in the Gospel Library; this is easy to do.
Open or create a Note in the Gospel Library. In the Note, select some text and then tap on the Link icon in the Format Bar above the keyboard. Due to screen size of smartphones, the Bar cannot show all the options. Slide the Bar to the left to find the Link icon.
I link to outside sources often. I have a Note on reformed Egyptian in 1 Nephi 1:2. The Note starts with an explanation regarding the subject. Here is the first paragraph—
Modern scholars have verified that reformed, or hieratic, Egyptian was in use by Jewish scribes in Lehi’s time, and Nephi says the Book of Mormon was written in Hebrew using reformed Egyptian script to save space on difficult-to-inscribe metal plates.
At the end of my note I have a link “Examples of reformed Egyptian.”
A tap on the link takes me to the 3rd party app I use to store the information and opens the article on reformed Egyptian, which contains some photos of reformed Egyptian. When done, one tap takes me back to the Gospel Library.
We are told to “Seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom, seek learning even by study and also by faith. . . To organize [ourselves]. Doctrine and Covenants 109:7-8.
Technology, was given to us by a loving Father to aid in fulfilling that commandment. Today we can store information that aids in becoming a better disciple of Christ, making it easy to retrieve it to further our spiritual growth, preparing talks and lessons and sharing the gospel with others.
We are so blessed to live when scriptures, conference talks, hymns, gospel photos and manuals are within our pockets, and can expand it to resources outside the Library.
Are you making use of this technology?
