QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Below are common questions and answers regarding Found Volumes. You will find three sections of questions below describing Pricing and the Found Volumes software. If you have additional questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

       Email:    [email protected]

What is Found Volumes?

Found Volumes is an easy-to-use computerized index to over 130 years of back issues of The Christian Science Journal and Christian Science Sentinel. Included are references to over 90,000 articles dating back to 1883 up through the past year.  Peter and Laurie Tosto developed this outstanding resource in 1986.  Since then, over 1,400 churches, reading rooms, practitioners, care facilities, schools, associations, and individuals rely on Found Volumes as the standard for Christian Science periodical research.

Found Volumes is sold as software for your PC or Mac computer.

Pricing

What is the price of Found Volumes?

With your new order, you will receive the Found Volumes software on CD-ROM that gives you a permanent index to over 130 years of the Christian Science periodicals.

1. ❖ Found Volumes software, $250
   

1. ❖ Special offer for individuals only, $150 (excludes churches, reading rooms, organizations, etc.)
   

1. Note: $5.00 shipping and handling fee added to all CD orders.
   

What is the price for annual updates?

Found Volumes was updated annually in the spring. The final update included articles published through 2016. No more new articles are being added, but you may still order the final version.

Pricing for existing Found Volumes customers:

1. $50 for Found Volumes software update (plus $5.00 shipping and handling)
   

Many of our customers purchase software updates every year, while others wait and buy an update only every few years. Either way, your update order will bring your Found Volumes software completely up to date with all the articles published since your last update.

Found Volumes software Q&A                                                                                                     Back to Top

How do I look up articles?

You simply type in a request, which includes any word that appears in the title and/or author’s name, and press the Enter key.  The end result is a list, which includes the year, publication, volume number, page number, title, author and an indication as to whether a reference is an editorial, poem, children’s article, or testimony.  These lists can be viewed on your computer screen or printed in their entirety, or selected references can be marked and printed, and then taken right to the bound volumes for research.

How much training is necessary before one can use Found Volumes?

Can I print the results of my query?

You can print all the results of your query or just selected articles.  This makes it easy to take your printout right to the books to search for the articles, to keep the printout for future reference, or to share it with others.

Does Found Volumes include the full text of the articles?

Found Volumes is an index only. To read the articles, you need to refer to back issues of the magazines.

What if I don’t have a complete set of bound volumes?

It is simple to adjust the year range in which to search for articles.  This way, for instance, if your set of bound volumes only goes back to, say, 1945, then you can set the range so that your list of results will not include anything before that time.  This feature is also helpful if you want to hunt for an article you may recall reading, for example, in the Seventies.  By narrowing the year range you can more easily zero in on what you may be looking for.

What if I don’t know the exact spelling of an author’s name?

Another feature of the program is the “wild card” search.  You can enter just a partial name, and then what you will see is a list which has variations based on what you entered.  An example might be that you enter “Chris” and your results would include titles by authors with names like Christian, Christine, Christianson, Christy, Christopher, Chris and so on.  This approach works in the title field as well.

Are testimonies included?

Testimonies before 1999 are not included because they were not given titles.  In the current periodicals there is a caption above each testimony, which makes it relevant to search.

How often is Found Volumes updated?

The program is updated yearly in the spring.  At that time, the previous year’s articles are added.  Whether you update annually, biannually, or even less frequently, you still pay only $50 (plus $5.00 s/h) for the update and are always brought completely up to date any time you order.  We offer a standing order option where the update is sent to you automatically every year when it is available.

Is this program approved by The Mother Church?

Found Volumes is in use in Christian Science Reading Rooms around the world, and was, in fact, in use throughout the Mother Church Center in Boston for many years.

Can I look up articles by subject?

In accordance with the wishes of The Mother Church, Found Volumes is not indexed by subject.  For this reason it may be necessary to approach your search as you would with a concordance.  Keeping in mind that the word you search for must appear in the title, you may need to try several queries to get an exhaustive list.  For example, if you want to look up articles about children, in addition to searching on the word “children”, you may want to try “child”, “youth”, “young”, “Sunday school”, “kid/s”, and so on.

Why can’t I find the article I am looking for?

After ruling out misspellings, it may be possible that you have put the query word in the title field when you meant the author field or vice versa.  Also, if you enter a name, e.g., Mary Baker Eddy, but there is an article where her name was listed as only Mary B. Eddy, as was the case with some of her early articles, a few of her articles would not be listed.  It is important to keep in mind that an article must contain your query exactly.  Some authors changed the way they signed their names over the years, using initials or not, changing from maiden to married names, etc.  Sometimes it takes a little experimenting to locate all of an author’s articles.  If you do, indeed, find a typo or omission, please contact the publishers of Found Volumes so that corrections can be made for future updates.

What are some other features of Found Volumes?

With a few simple keystrokes, you can specify the chronological order in which you would like the results displayed, or limit the search to a certain article type.  It is also possible to “copy to a clipboard” so that the information you gather is available for wider uses.

What are the hardware requirements?

The program is available for IBM-compatible computers, as well as Macintosh computers.

The Microsoft Windows version requires Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows XP or Vista, 16MB RAM, at least 30 megabytes of hard disk space, and a CD-ROM drive.

Under Mac OS X, Found Volumes uses 200MB of hard disk space. Found Volumes is compatible with newer Intel-based Macs starting with version OS X 10.6 and later.

Found Volumes Online Q&A                                                                                                     Back to Top

What is Found Volumes Online?

Found Volumes Online was an optional service that allowed Found Volumes customers to search the periodicals from the Internet. This service was discontinued in 2013.

                                                                                                                                                        Back to Top