Confused about Books in Database

Crazylegoman

I was adding sets to my collection recently, and when I got to a batch of books, I realized that I'm confused on which ones do and do not belong in the database.

I looked up ISBN9780241232484, found it and checked the "I own" box—simple enough.  Next I tried looking up The LEGO Batman Movie Official Annual 2018, but did not find it on Brickset.  (The link goes to the Bricklink catalog entry for that book.)  On a basic level of reasoning, this seems odd because both of them are officially licensed books meant for kids that also have a minifig in a little plastic case in the cover.

However, I remembered reading an article a few years ago about what items do and do not belong in the Brickset database.  I found that article, but it didn't clear up all of my confusion.  Under the list of items that are in scope of the database it says "Books published in-house and under license that are of interest to AFOLs".  Both the Ninjago and Batman books are officially licensed, and both are geared towards kids, yet only one is currently in the database.  Under that point of items in scope, it also says "Primarily those published by Dorling Kindersley."  The Ninjago book is Dorling Kindersley, so that makes some sense, but (and here's the real problem) it only says primarily.  What other publishers are allowed to have books in the Brickset database?  Are there Dorling Kindersley books that do not go in the database?  It's this lack of a hard rule that causes gray area and therefore confusion.

At the end of the What items go into our set database article, there's a list of items that are out of scope, which includes "Children's story, activity and comic books, whether published under license or not, and whether they contain bricks and/or minifigs or not."  This distinction helps me see why the Batman 2018 Annual should not be in the database.  The Batman book is an activity book, and the Ninjago one is a list of minifigs.

But... I see in my collection that ISBN9780751362022 IS in the database.  It's an activity book for kids.  Does that one just get a free pass because it's published by Dorling Kindersley?  After reading through the article on what should be in the database, the book category seems to have 2 distinguishing factors: Ones that are of interest to AFOLs and ones that are for children.  When I look at the book entries in the database, I see the rules from the article followed the vast majority of the time, but not always.  Is there a set of more specific rules that apply to books?  If so, where can I find them?

CCC

The annuals are glorified comics in a hard cover, so leaving them out makes sense. The encyclopedias are very useful for AFOLs as reference guides. The final one, to ne it looks like a building guide / ideas book rather than activity book (with puzzles and word searches, etc) and so similar to other ideas books and of interest to adults. Although I've never actually seen that one so cannot be sure about its contents.

Crazylegoman

I understand that the encyclopedias can be useful for AFOLs, but as I go through the Ninjago one, it's clear that it's meant for kids.  It's sort of like how I find Duplo useful sometimes, even though it's made for kids.  I'm not sure what you mean by the final book being a building guide rather than an activity book.  Building is an activity.  This is why I can't figure out which books belong and which don't.  Is there a specific age cutoff for a book to be considered adult-worthy?  Are there specific activities besides building that make a book just for children?  Where can I find the additional set of rules that Brickset uses?

560Heliport

Well, Brickset (and its database) are owned by Huw. Anything missing might just be an oversight, something he just isn't aware of- there's a lot of Lego stuff other than sets.

Bumblepants

I think it's either stuff listed at Lego.com or it's only ones that have minifigs or bricks included.

Crazylegoman

Bumblepants said:

I think it's either stuff listed at Lego.com or it's only ones that have minifigs or bricks included.

According to Huw's article from 2019, those are not the determining factors for books.

CCC

Crazylegoman said:

I understand that the encyclopedias can be useful for AFOLs, but as I go through the Ninjago one, it's clear that it's meant for kids.  It's sort of like how I find Duplo useful sometimes, even though it's made for kids.  I'm not sure what you mean by the final book being a building guide rather than an activity book.  Building is an activity.  This is why I can't figure out which books belong and which don't. 

In the UK, an activity book is typically a book aimed at kids containing puzzles, quizzes, games, sometimes things you cut out and so on. The book is the activity.

Books about building ideas, cooking or playing football would not be  classed as activity books even though they are all about activities. 

Istokg

DK Publishing (Dorling Kindersley) does not do reference LEGO guides.  They only do picture books that are sometimes mistaken for reference guides.  I had a long discussion with a representative of theirs, and that's what they told me.

Huw

It's a fine line that divides those that are added and those that are not. It changes over time and defining it becomes more difficult the more that are published.

Virtually all books published by DK are meant for kids but some are of more interest to adults than others. Building guides and 'picture books that are sometimes mistaken for reference guides' (great definition, @istokg) are generally of more interest than picture stories, puzzles, annuals and so on to adults so they go in.

I don't necessarily have an objection to adding all LEGO books but (a) there are hundreds (b) I don't have the time to research them (c) what about all those in languages other than English?

Crazylegoman

I do realize that deciding which books get added to the database is much more tricky than adding regular boxed sets.  I think that when I come across a book that I'm adding to my collection that is not in the Brickset database, I will add the minifig that comes with it to the loose MFs in My Collection instead.

Thanks for taking the time to respond Huw!