Posts Tagged ‘book indexing’

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American Society for Indexing Conference

Tuesday, April 23rd, 2013

I recently attended the annual conference for the American Society for Indexing (ASI) in San Antonio, Texas.  Held at the Hotel Contessa on the San Antonio’s famed Riverwalk, the keynote address was given on Thursday, April 18th by Judith Pascoe, Professor at the University of Iowa and author of “My Last Index.”  Prof. Pascoe gave an entertaining and humorous speech that detailed “The Secret Lives of Indexers.”  She explored index cards, indexing villainy, indexing artistry, and indexing in Barbara Pym novels.

Prof. Pascoe started out by giving historical background on indexing, in which indexers would index on index cards.  Indexers would write one subject heading on each index card and then sort them alphabetically.

“The index card is a symbol of the neat orderly work that indexers carry out in a world that is neat and opaque,” she said.

Describing the conventional stereotype of an indexer, she pointed out the main character in Barbara Pym’s novel, No Fond Return of Love.  She quoted passages from the novel in giving a picture of the secret life of this indexer.

She eluded to the theme of the ASI annual conference, “The Art and Craft of Indexing,” in portraying indexing as an art and a craft.  More than a technical endeavor, indexing is crafting an artistic work, she emphasized.

“Indexing is a door opening into a new world like Dorothy stepping forth into Oz,” she concluded.

Future blog postings will cover other workshop sessions at the ASI annual conference.  For more information about the services provided by the author of this blog, see the Stellar Searches LLC website, http://www.stellarsearches.com

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Special Topics on Alphabetizing in Indexes

Saturday, October 29th, 2011

When articles, conjunctions, or prepositions appear as the first term in a main heading, the phrase is probably a title of a book, an article, a play, or a painting.  If the first term is an article, such as A or The, the term is not alphabetized.  For example, the book title A Tale of Two Cities would appear in the T‘s, sorted on Tale.  The actual entry could appear in the T‘s in one of three ways:

Tale of Two Cities, A

A Tale of Two Cities

Tale of Two Cities

In the last example above, the A has been dropped completely from the entry.  The practice is common and preferred when it is necessary to economize on the length of index entries.

If the first term in a main heading is a preposition or conjunction, the term is alphabetized.  For example, the book title Of Mice and Men appears in the O‘s, sorted on Of.

If a conjunction, preposition, or article appears in any other position besides as the first term in an entry, it is always alphabetized.  The and in the phrase “dogs and cats” is alphabetized.

For more information, refer to Nancy C. Mulvany’s Indexing Books, Second Edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005.  For more information about the services provided by the author of this blog, see the Stellar Searches LLC website, http://www.stellarsearches.com

 

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Alphabetizing in Indexes

Saturday, September 10th, 2011

Letter-by-Letter or Word-by-Word?

The two principal modes of alphabetizing – or sorting – indexes are the letter-by-letter and the word-by-word systems.  Indexers must decide which mode to use before indexing begins.  Dictionaries are arranged letter-by-letter, while library catalogs are arranged word-by-word.  Most university presses, such as Chicago University Press, and many other publishers have traditionally preferred the letter-by-letter system; however, it may not be imposed on a well-prepared index arranged word-by-word.

Letter-by-letter system. In a letter-by-letter syetem, alphabetizing continues up to the first parenthesis or comma; it then starts again after the punctuation point.  Word spaces and all other punctuation marks are ignored.  Both open and hyphenated compounds such as New York or self-pity are treated as single words.  The order of precedence is one word, word followed by a parenthesis, and word followed by a comma, number, or letters.

Word-by-word system. In the word-by-word system, alphabetizing continues only up to the end of the first word (counting hyphenated compounds as one word), using subsequent words only when additional headings begin with the same word.  As in the letter-by-letter system, alphabetizing continues up to the first parenthesis or comma; it then starts after the punctuation point.  The order of precedence is one word, word followed by a parenthesis, word followed by a comma, word followed by a space, and word followed by a comma, number, or letters.

For more information on arrangement of entries, refer to The Chicago Manual of Style.  For more information about the services provided by the author of this blog, see the Stellar Searches LLC website, http://www.stellarsearches.com

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More on Cross-References in an Index

Sunday, May 15th, 2011

Continuing our discussion of cross-references, this post explores additional references in the form of see under and see also under.  When a cross-reference directs readers to a subentry another a main heading, see under may be used.  The use of “under” indicates that the term will be found explicitly as a subheading below the main heading indicated.

  • silver coins. See under currency
  • Pride and Prejudice. See under Austen, Jane

If the cross-reference is to a subentry under another main heading, the words see also under may be used.  This cross-reference guides the reader to related and additional information that appears verbatim.

  • Maya: art of, 236-43; cities of, 178;
  • present day, 267. See also under Yucatan

For more information about the formatting of cross-references, refer to The Chicago Manual of Style.  For more information about the services provided by the author of this blog, see the Stellar Searches LLC website, http://www.stellarsearches.com

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Cross-References in an Index

Sunday, April 24th, 2011

Cross-reference refers to internal index navigation guides. These guides generally take the form of See or See also. The See cross-reference performs a vocabulary control function. It directs readers from a term not used in the index to a term that is used:

cars. See autos

See references direct a reader from, for example, an informal term to a technical one, a pseudonym to a real name, an inverted term to a noninverted one, or vice versa.  They are also used for variant spellings, synonyms, aliases, abbreviations, and so on.  The choice of the term under which the full entry appears depends largely on where readers are most likely to look.   The Chicago Manual of Style recommends that See references should therefore be given only where the indexer believes many readers might otherwise miss the full entry.

The See also cross-reference directs readers to closely related index entries:

digital photography, 2, 10. See also image-processing software

The primary function of a See also cross-reference is to guide users to related and additional information at another heading.  See also cross-references may be “two-way” as shown below:

  • drug trafficking. See also narcotics
  • narcotics. See also drug trafficking

I will explore cross-references further in the next post.  For more information about the services provided by the author of this blog, see the Stellar Searches LLC website, http://www.stellarsearches.com

 

 

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Double Posting of Index Entries

Saturday, January 15th, 2011

In an index, the indexer may choose to provide multiple access points for the same information.  Given the importance of the main heading, it may be reasonable to assume that readers may look up a topic in more than one way.  One reader may look up automobiles, while another reader may be just as likely to look up cars.  The indexer may decide to double-post the information using both terms, that is list it in two places:

  • automobiles, 35-40
  • cars, 35-40

Double-posting of index entries may take the form of direct inversions:

  • book contracts
  •      of trade publishers, 54-59
  • trade publishers
  •      book contracts of, 54-59

The advantage of double-posting information is that it gives readers multiple access points for information.  Disadvantages are that it may take up too much space in an index.  Also, when an entire entry is double-posted, both entries must contain the same information; the reference locators and subheadings must be the same.  While it may be easy to maintain this consistency when double-posted terms appear only once, it can be difficult for the indexer to remember to double-post all the cited information scattered throughout the text.

During the editing stage, the indexer must be sure that all double-posted entries are mirror images of each other.

For more information about the services provided by the author of this blog, see the Stellar Searches LLC website, http://www.stellarsearches.com

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The Indexer’s Reference: The Chicago Manual Of Style

Monday, August 9th, 2010

The Chicago Manual of StyleThe Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Edition, which was recently published by the University of Chicago Press, remains the authoritative reference for indexers.  Indexers consult the one chapter on Indexes in The Chicago Manual of Style for guidelines relating to kinds of indexes and components of an index, as well as general principles of indexing.  Rules are given for main headings, subentries, locators, and cross-references.  Details are given on formatting an index as run-in (subentries on one line) versus indented indexes (subentries on separate lines).  The indexer can find rules and examples for proper names and variants.  Additional information is given on alphabetizing, punctuation, and the mechanics of indexing.  In future blog postings, I will examine these different aspects of indexing covered in The Chicago Manual of Style.

While only one chapter deals with indexes, the indexer will find that the rules given are illustrated with numerous indexing examples.  Whether the indexer is referring to the print edition or the online edition of The Chicago Manual of Style, the indexing categories are clearly outlined, making the reference easy-to-use.  It is an invaluable resource for the indexer and, indeed, anyone in the publishing world.  In addition, the sixteenth edition offers expanded information on producing electronic publications, including web-based content and e-books.

To order your copy of The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Edition, go to http://www.amazon.com or http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org.   For more information about the services provided by the author of this blog, see the Stellar Searches LLC website, http://www.stellarsearches.com

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Welcome to Optimal Indexing, my indexing blog!

Saturday, January 30th, 2010

This blog will focus on optimal indexing for effective search retrieval.  How do you index books and documents in such a way that patrons will easily and effectively find the needed information?  As an Information Professional for Stellar Searches LLC, I depend on quality indexing to find the information that fulfills a query.  While I conduct searches for information, I also provide indexing and abstracting services.  This blog will examine how to enhance your indexing and focus on tips for indexing that will help the patron find the needed information.  But most importantly, I’ll explore why an index is needed in the first place, how it enhances a book.  An index, in short, is indispensable.

For more information about the services provided by the author of this blog, see the Stellar Searches LLC website, http://www.stellarsearches.com

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