Category talk:Exteriors of library buildings by name

This discussion of one or several categories is now closed. Please do not make any edits to this archive.

Category:Exteriors of library buildings

There is a disagreement over whether this category should contain only other categories or all the (many) images of library building exteriors. JesseW (talk) 03:13, 15 August 2013 (UTC)

Please see Category talk:Exteriors of library buildings, User_talk:Skeezix1000#Removal_of_Category:Exteriors_of_library_buildings.3F, and User_talk:JesseW for the previous discussions that led to this disagrement. JesseW (talk) 03:16, 15 August 2013 (UTC)

The purpose is to provide external views of libraries. This can work either way:

By including images directly into this category or by adding the images first in a library specific "external views" category and then including this category here as a subcategory.

The first solution seems easier to implement. --  Docu  at 12:14, 15 August 2013 (UTC)

My concern with the first approach is as set out on my talk page discussion with Jesse (linked to above). I worry that the first solution will not make things easier in the long run. --Skeezix1000 (talk) 13:24, 15 August 2013 (UTC)

Please state your opinion here (the discussion has already been removed from your user talk page, so I had to check your archive). Decisoins like this should be made on the talk page or here (CfD), not on individual people's user talk pages. To try to excerpt, it seems your main point is, "Of all of our library photos on Commons, 90%+ are of exteriors (I'm being conservative - I suspect the % is probably higher).", so this is essentially duplicative of Category:Libraries. I have not tried to estimate this ratio myself. Superm401 - Talk 06:20, 19 September 2013 (UTC)

 Comment See also Commons:Categories_for_discussion/2011/09/Category:Education_buildings which seems to bear on this topic.

 Comment It seems to me this would affect Category:Building exteriors and most of it's subcategories. I've tagged a few of them to encourage more discussion. - Themightyquill (talk) 22:59, 14 April 2018 (UTC)

• If the question is whether this category should contain only categories, I think that files are allowed; if we wanted categories only, the category should be named "Exteriors of library buildings by library" and be treated as a metacategory.

Whether we should have a category for exteriors at all, with the idea being that files showing exteriors could go in the main category (in this case, Category:Libraries), is a different question. I think it's helpful where there is a very large number of files for an exterior, or when the exterior images are subcategorized (such as by different sides of the building or by notable details). If there is a large number of exterior images of a building and they're all in the main category, then non-exterior images could get "lost" among the exterior ones. Of course, having separate exterior categories for these cases could lead to creating them for cases that don't really need them. --Auntof6 (talk) 23:36, 14 April 2018 (UTC)

@Auntof6, Superm401, Skeezix1000, Docu, and JesseW: I agree there is no restriction on placing files in this category. If an appropriate sub-category for a file which depicts the exterior of a library building, then indeed it must be placed here. I would propose that sub categories for specific libraries all be consistently named "Category:Exterior of Library" (with Library matching the main category name for that specific library). These can be grouped in a meta-cat Category:Exteriors of library buildings by library if so desired. Josh (talk) 17:04, 4 October 2019 (UTC)

@Joshbaumgartner: Or perhaps Category:Exteriors of library buildings by name. - Themightyquill (talk) 21:13, 13 October 2019 (UTC)

Sure, no problem with that. Josh (talk) 20:23, 15 October 2019 (UTC)

@JesseW, Docu, Skeezix1000, Superm401, Auntof6, and Joshbaumgartner: I created Category:Exteriors of library buildings by name. Are we all okay to close discussion? - Themightyquill (talk) 14:22, 17 January 2020 (UTC)

 Support @Themightyquill: Josh (talk) 16:42, 17 January 2020 (UTC)

The new category is fine, but having it doesn't seem to address whether files should be allowed in the parent. Are they to be allowed, or should a subcategory be created even for single files? --Auntof6 (talk) 21:14, 17 January 2020 (UTC)

@Auntof6: Sorry. Yes, Category:Exteriors of library buildings would allow individual files. Categories for multiple images of one building exterior should go in Category:Exteriors of library buildings by name. I didn't realize, however, that this discussion also applies to similar categories like Category:Building exteriors, Category:Museum exteriors, Category:Exteriors of religious buildings, and Category:Church exteriors. Do we create Category:Exteriors of museums by name and Category:Exteriors of churches by name as well? - Themightyquill (talk) 08:52, 18 January 2020 (UTC)

I have entirely forgotten the context of this discussion, and I was neutral on it when it started over six years ago -- so ... I'm still neutral. :-) FYI, the main partisan of one side, Skeezix1000, has not been active since Feb 2016 (3 years ago); so we can probably do whatever whoever is left wants. :-) JesseW (talk) 03:16, 18 January 2020 (UTC)

 Support closing discussion. I think it is okay to have images in the category but if there are many of the same library they can be put in a sub category. --MGA73 (talk) 15:37, 27 January 2020 (UTC)

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Closing after nearly 7 years of discussion. Images can go anywhere, but only categories should go in Category:Exteriors of churches by name, Category:Exteriors of museums by name, and Category:Exteriors of library buildings by name. - Themightyquill (talk) 09:22, 14 February 2020 (UTC)