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Indexing Education

© Dawney Spencer

When pursuing a new career, being trained is normal. Whether you are planning a college education or self-education in the indexing field, what kind of knowledge and training is essential for becoming an indexer?

To start with, indexers must be trained in the science of indexing. This means learning the various formats, structure, and relationships of indexing. There is also an art to creating an index, such as term selection and ways to slim an index to fit in the space allowed for it.

There are two accreditable places to learn the science and art of indexing. One is at a university that offers a library science program. An indexing/abstracting class is part of the curriculum. However, this option is not available to everyone. Another way is through the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Graduate School distance-learning classes in indexing: Basic Indexing and Applied Indexing. Request a catalog for more information.

This is a very good start. However, in order to operate a successful freelance indexing business, more is needed. This is a business. Indexers need business skills, such as:

• General bookkeeping skills. Essential for understanding receivables, payables, information that should be on invoices, 10 net 30 for payment, inventory, taxes for IRS, reporting to local county business office, profit/loss, rate development.

• Computing skills. Indexers are their own technical support team. They need to know about operating systems, word processing, spreadsheets, database development, and personal information managers. All these computing skills are used in an indexing business.

• Marketing and advertising skills. Indexers must market and advertise before they will have any clients. Some of the most asked questions center around this area. Take college-level classes in marketing if you are not comfortable in this area. This is the lifeblood of indexing. No clients, no income.

• Gadget technology. Indexers need to know how to get a dedicated fax, answering machine, modem, computer, and printer all hooked up on one telephone line and one electrical outlet. There will be times when gadgetry needs help. Indexers need someone they can rely on to help them get through tough times. A variation of Murphy's Law states: the computer will break down only when there is a tight, unwavering deadline. Be prepared, and have hardware tech support all lined up.

• Grammar. Indexers usually create their own marketing packages. They must use good grammar. This is different than using a spell checker to look for misspelled words. Grammar deals with sentence structure. Run-on sentences and sentence fragments are two areas of grammar abuse.

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