1. Why
does the Plain Truth CD only cover the years 1934-1960 and the Good News CD
1951-1969? Will CD's be available to cover later years?
The
only reason why the CD's end at those years is that the CD's are FULL. If more
would have fit on the CD's, then they would have been included. All remaining
issues of the Plain Truth (until they went to a subscription basis), and all
remaining issues of the Good News will eventually be available as time permits.
2. Will
other HWA materials be made available?
Yes,
as time permits.
3. What
do I need to do to order the CD's listed?
Please send your mailing
address to us via email or postal mail. Our mailing address is:
The HWA Library &
Archives
P.O. Box 1323
Jamestown, TN 38556
4. How
are these CD's being paid for?
These
CD's are provided free of charge by those to whom God has seen fit to provide
the means to do so. The HWA Library is a
non-profit, non-incorporated organism composed of those who are dedicated to
preserving all of the HWA-era literature available and also freely giving it to
others. The Herbert W. Armstrong Library is NOT affiliated with any church
organization and will provide our materials to anyone, from any church
organization, and to those who may not have ever had any church of god
affiliation.
5. How
can I help with the effort to preserve the historical documents of the WCG?
The
greatest help could be provided by visiting the WCG
Literature Swap Page to see if you may have materials that are needed. We
can arrange to trade you for the item by swapping with you items from our
duplicates, or we would appreciate borrowing the item to scan it and then return
it to you. Eventually, everything we receive will be available to others, so
any materials you are able to share with us will be shared with others who
value this material.
6. Will
you produce more CD's of Mr. Armstrong's radio and sermon tapes?
ABSOLUTELY,
as time permits. The biggest task is to
sort out the duplicates from all the tape lists. We are in the process of
preparing a detailed listing of our entire tape inventory (about 500 tapes) to
share with others. Eventually, all tapes will be converted to CD. This tape
list will include a transcription of the first three sentences of the body of
the message. This is the only feasible way we have identified so far to sort
out the many different tape dates and titles.
7. The
Plain Truth and Good News CD are photo-images only. Will they be converted to a
searchable program like the HWA Literature CD?
YES!
The process of scanning and converting documents into a searchable program is a
multi-step process, and with current technology, a very time consuming process.
The
first step is to scan from paper to create a photo-image. This step of the
process takes a good amount of time, but is a small percentage of the total
conversion process; approximately 10% of the total time.
After
the photo-image is made, the next step is to convert the image using special
software (OCR -- Optical Character Recognition) to a digital file. This is
similar to having a person type it into a computer file using a keyboard. This
portion of the total process also takes only about 10% of the total time of the
entire conversion process.
After
the OCR process is done, the remaining 80% of the time of this entire process
is used to proof-read the final file. The OCR process is not 100% accurate, so
a person needs to proof-read what the computer has created to make sure any
typographical errors are corrected. We try to have each file proof-read three
times, plus running it thru a spell-checker. But some typo errors may still
exist, but none intentional. So if there is ever any doubt about the electronic
version of the book or article, please go to the paper version to clarify the
error. That is one reason the photo-images are helpful to have available -- to
be able to clarify any typographical errors in the electronic text.
But
the main reason we offer the photo-images at this time is that at least the raw
material is available for your study today. If we waited to release the CD's
until everything was converted, the amount of material now available to you
would be a small portion. Given the overwhelming need to have this material
available today, it was decided to release the photo-images until such time the
searchable version was ready.
It
is our strong desire to have everything available in a searchable program, as
well as the photo-images, as our time and resources permit.
8. Are
paper versions of the contents of the Church Literature, The Good News,
and The Plain Truth CD's available for those without computers?
Unfortunately,
we are unable to provide paper versions of the contents of these CD's due to
the time and resources necessary to produce them.
We
truly regret not being able to help those who are unable to use these CD's
directly, it is just too impractical for us to provide paper-versions at this
time.
For
example, The Good News CD contains approximately 3000 pages of the
magazine. If 3000 pages were copied at 5 cents (US) each, it would cost about
US$150. Plus it would be three packages of paper (500 sheets each,
double-sided).
But
the real cost is the time involved in photo-copying or printing the pages. If
it took only 15 seconds to print or copy each page (and that is FAST!), that is
12.5 HOURS!
Consider,
too, that The Plain Truth CD contains over 2600 pages, so it would cost
almost the same amount of time and expense.
And,
when future CD's are available (it may take another 10-12 CD's to finish the
series), the numbers become even larger.
So
we simply cannot offer this service at this time.
To
assist those without computers, please consider helping others in your local area
use these CD's. Consider helping train them on how to use a computer, or
consider offering to print off certain issues or topics each week and bring
them to Sabbath services. These opportunities to serve will help others benefit
from these contents of these CD's.