Wikibooks:Reading room/Proposals/2021/October

This is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page.

Hi guys, I'm an administrator of Vietnamese Wikibooks. I would like to ask the members of English Wikibooks a question. I know "Wikibooks is not an encyclopedia", but this is only for Wikibooks project, not for the books in Wikibooks. Please read the book I found at Hungarian Wikibooks. Can we make a book that looks like a mini encyclopedia? Not Wikipedia, I mean a book like "Bird Encyclopedia", "Encyclopedia of Nations" or "Encyclopedia of Paintings". Sorry for my bad English. I would be happy if a native speaker corrects my English mistake. Đức Anh (discuss • contribs) 13:08, 17 August 2021 (UTC)[]

I'm a bit confused. The book you linked is a Lexicon and not an Encyclopedia. English Wikibooks already has those, so I'm not sure why a Lexicon wouldn't be accepted.
Unfortunately I'm not knowledgeable to comment on the policy of encyclopedias on Wikibooks itself. That said, for other books which are subject specific encyclopedias, there is presumably some reason why their component articles wouldn't be transwiki'd into Wikipedia instead. Lean into that reason. For example if the "Bird Encyclopedia" has instructions for finding specific birds, consider bookifying it into a "Field guide to Birds" instead, which emphasizes the instructional aspect of the material. --Mbrickn (discuss • contribs) 22:08, 17 August 2021 (UTC)[]

Can you tell me the difference between "Lexicon" and "Encyclopedia"? Đức Anh (discuss • contribs) 01:10, 18 August 2021 (UTC)[]

Exact definitions are a bit out of my wheelhouse, so take this with a grain of salt (I might be wrong). A Lexicon (In this context, it has other meanings too) is a book that lists words. A dictionary is an enhanced lexicon of sorts. An Encyclopedia is a book that focuses on facts, typically from an extremely general point of view. An example from the book you suggested b:hu:Heraldikai_lexikon/Kálváriakereszt leans more encyclopedic in style (Perhaps the meaning of Lexikon in Hungarian differs greatly from Lexicon in english.), but it primarily focuses on how a symbol is relevant to heraldry and is comparable to a section from a chapter this historical book in wikisource wikisource:A Complete Guide to Heraldry/Chapter 19. Another example can be seen in the book Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter. That book's article on Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Harry Potter is substantially different in style (Often using an in universe POV for readability, and builds on content from other parts of the Wikibook.) compared to wikipedia:Harry Potter (character), which takes great strains to remind the reader constantly that the character is fictional since it exists in the same namespace and context as real life topics. --Mbrickn (discuss • contribs) 07:55, 18 August 2021 (UTC)[]

What is out of scope of Wikibooks is encyclopedic articles. E.g., a single page on David Beckham. However, a book that was in effect, say, an encyclopedia of aircraft, would probably be in scope. Essentially, Wikibooks as a whole does not contain articles but individual books within Wikibooks could be constructed of articles, and many are. QuiteUnusual (discuss • contribs) 11:54, 18 August 2021 (UTC)[]

That clarifies things a bit! Thanks! --Mbrickn (discuss • contribs) 13:23, 18 August 2021 (UTC)[]

It might be good to clarify the policy so it's a bit more straightforward about it's purpose. --Mbrickn (discuss • contribs) 16:35, 27 August 2021 (UTC)[]

I realize this is a bit late, but I just wanted to note an example of an encyclopedia on english Wikibooks at The Complete Encyclopedia of Self-Help Techniques. --Mbrickn (discuss • contribs) 11:52, 12 October 2021 (UTC)[]