What Is Indexing?

Let's pretend we are still looking at the car manual mentioned above, and on page 15 is the chapter titled "Headlamps", with the chapter subtitles "How to Replace a Headlamp", and "Adjusting the Headlamps". We'll say the entire chapter on "Headlamps" is covered on pages 15-20. In a computer-generated index, it would read:

ADJUSTING: adjusting the headlamps, 15

100 additional index entries....

HEADLAMP: replace a headlamp, 15; headlamp burns out, 15; cover off headlamp,15; headlamp bulbs, 18

HEADAMPS: adjusting the headlamps, 15; type of headlamps, 17; high-beam headlamps, 19

200 additional index entries

REPLACE: replace a headlamp, 15

100 final index entries

Compare the computer-generated index entries with the following human-generated index entry, and decide which one would help the reader find information:

HEADLAMPS, 15-20

100 other entries

LIGHTS. See HEADLAMPS

What happened in this entry with one line and one cross-reference? A human analyzed what was either pertinent or superfluous. The indexer differentiated how the word was being used, either in passing that should be ignored or as subject matter that need to be included in the index. The indexer determined one succinct entry would help the reader find information just as efficiently as several entries. The indexer also knew that a reader might look elsewhere and need steering to the right location.

To complicate our illustration, perhaps the publisher originally said the index could be 1,000 lines long. Then, a few days before the indexing project was due, the index specifications were changed and now it could only be 750 lines, since space concerns are a common scenario when publishing a book. If you are familiar with computers, you probably know about "truncating". In this case, the computer might indiscriminately lop off the last 250 lines, leaving the index A-S, and truncating T-Z to fit. On the other hand, an indexer would make adjustments to ensure the index flowed from A-Z by combining selected entries or using a different indexing style.

Until software can make analytical decisions and judgement calls, human indexers are needed. There is a place in publishing for concordances and embedded indexing, but it is not in the back of most books.

An Index--NOT!

1. A BOTB index is not a concordance or an embedded index. They all serve different purposes.

2. A BOTB index is not computer-generated. It is a creative, written work with concepts developed which are not stated verbatim in the material.

3. An index is not something publishers put at the end of the book because of tradition. It is included to help readers locate important information contained in the text.

4. An index is not an expanded version of

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