The libraries
What each library holds, the years it covers, and how often it is updated.
A library is one body of text gathered from one source: the scriptures, every General Conference talk since 1971, the Liahona, and so on. There are twelve. Each has its own color, which shows on the chips under the search bar and on the header of every result card.
You choose which libraries a search covers with the "in:" chips on the empty home page, or under "Libraries to Search" behind the "More Filters" button. Ten are on to begin with; Interpreter and the Apocrypha are off until you turn them on. Your choice is remembered in this browser. See Choosing libraries and years.
The catalog
| Library | What it holds | Years | Updated | On by default |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scriptures | The standard works: Old and New Testament, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price. One card per verse. | No dates | Fixed | Yes |
| General Conference | Conference talks, one card per paragraph. Sustainings and the statistical and auditing reports are left out. | 1971 to present | Daily in April and October | Yes |
| Gospel Topics | The Gospel Topics entries, essays included, about 300 of them. | No dates | Monthly | Yes |
| BYU Studies | Articles from BYU Studies Quarterly. Poems, reviews and book notices are left out. | 1961 to 2025. The years 1959 to 1989 are still being filled in. | Monthly | Yes |
| Liahona | Magazine articles. | January 2021 onward | Weekly | Yes |
| BYU Speeches | Devotional and speech transcripts from speeches.byu.edu. | 1891 to present | Weekly | Yes |
| Interpreter | Articles from Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship. Footnotes are removed. | 2012 to present | Weekly | No |
| JBMS | The Journal of Book of Mormon Studies: articles, review essays and book reviews. Annual bibliographies are left out. | 1992 to 2019 (volumes 1 to 28) | Fixed | Yes |
| Hymns | Hymns (1985) and Hymns: For Home and Church (2024 onward), about 410 songs. One card per verse. | No dates | Monthly | Yes |
| Religious Educator | Articles from the BYU Religious Studies Center journal. Book reviews, front matter and translations are left out. | 2000 to present | Monthly | Yes |
| Scripture Central | KnoWhys and Evidences. Footnotes and further-reading lists are dropped. | 2017 to present | Weekly | Yes |
| Apocrypha | The fourteen books of the King James Apocrypha. One card per verse. | No dates | Fixed | No |
Turning a library on
Interpreter and the Apocrypha start off. Click their chip on the home page, or open "More Filters", click them under "Libraries to Search" and press "Apply & Close". If results are already on screen, the search runs again with the new selection.
How the text is divided
A result card holds one passage, and what counts as a passage depends on the library.
- Talks, articles and essays are divided by paragraph, so a card is one paragraph of the original. Very short paragraphs are joined to the one before them, and very long ones are split at a sentence.
- The scriptures and the Apocrypha are divided by verse. A card is one verse, its title reads like
Alma 32:21, and the source link opens the chapter scrolled to that verse. - Hymns are divided by verse too, with the chorus kept once rather than after every verse. Three hymns from the 1985 book have no lyrics online and so have no text here: How Great Thou Art, Because I Have Been Given Much, and Children of Our Heavenly Father.
The chevron at the bottom of a card shows the text just before and after the passage. Reading a result card explains the rest of the card.
How current it is
The Updated column says how often a library is checked for new material. General Conference is checked daily during the April and October conferences; the magazines and journals are checked weekly or monthly; the scriptures, the Apocrypha and the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies are fixed texts that are not checked again. A document taken down at its source stays searchable here.
Read next
- Choosing libraries and yearsTurn libraries on and off and set a year range.
- Reading a result cardWhat every part of a card means, from the colored badge to the topic chips.