BOOK INDEXING

The Nature of Book Indexes

Book indexes constitute a major portion of indexing output. A separate chapter on book indexes should not imply that these indexes are totally dissimilar to other indexes, because all indexing has the same fundamental principles, and concepts and procedures developed thus far apply to book indexes. Some important differences:
Book Indexing Periodical Indexing

- closed-ended; quick one-shot event

- set of vocabulary usage doesnt change overtime - has a focused topic - In terms of format, book indexes are physically part of the book - vocabulary control -- free-text based

- open-ended system
- with dynamic vocabulary changes - has numerous topics, even in specialized areas - Periodicals cover multiple titles, therefore are separate entities -is done with a thesaurus for consistency across topics

- book indexes are too often created with less than ample commitment from the books publisher

-In periodical indexing service, the index is the product of concern, and the full operation is aimed at creating that index.

Book index- Basic components

Main headings Subheadings Locators Cross-references

Indexing a book is a demanding task requiring knowledge of the books content, its subject, the terms and synonyms of the subject, and the basic procedures and methods of indexing.

Steps in Book Indexing

Step one. Open a clear communication with the editor of the book, who will probably have space limitations and occasionally a rigid format to be followed. Step two. Read through the book quickly. Step Three. Ready to go page-by-page an sentence-bysentence, actually doing the indexing. Step Four. Once the indexer has made entries for the entire text, it is time to begin the exacting task of reviewing the book. Step Five. Prepare the finished manuscript for the editor.

Index terms
When selecting terms the goal should be to select the first term that a user will look under. Main heading should be specific to the text. Likewise, subheadings, should be book specific terms that qualify and subdivide the main headings. Words should be avoided that a user would not use. use: Cats, good skimming methods not: Good skimming methods, cats

Index terms
Adjectives as solo words usually make bad index terms, although when used with a modified noun, they are useful to express more specific meaning For example: Hairy cats dogs monsters would be better as: Hairy cats Hairy dogs Hairy monsters

Index terms
Adverbs, articles and prepositions should not be used as index terms. In modern indexing the general practice is to retain initial articles but the entry is indexed on the first proper word. The article is not transposed no dropped.

Index terms
The word and in a subheading is to be avoided in most cases. It usually adds ambiguity. for example: Cats training and feeding a better way would be: Cats feeding training

Index terms
The problem of capitalization of terms can be generally solved by use of any number of authoritative style manuals (e.g. The Chicago Manual of Style) Book publishers may specify which style manual to use, or they may provide their own style manual. A popular way to handle headings is to capitalize main headings and not capitalize subheadings. For example: Cats bobcats cheetah domestic lions sabertooth tigers

Index terms
Book index terms are sometimes compound headings, and one problem is knowing when to invert the terms. A compound heading is a phrase consisting of a noun with a word as a modifier. The primary noun is the generic sense of the phrase and the modifier narrows the concept to a specific subclass of meaning. The basic reason for inverting is that some users think in terms of a major idea in the phrase and that is the way they will look it up in the index. For example: Lou Gehrigs disease Purple heart Field hand In some cases compound headings are given double entry or are cross-referenced.

Index terms
The there is the question of singular vs. plural forms of the nouns. The general approach is to use plurals for countable objects. For example: Cats Dogs Fleas Use singular forms for collective terms. For example: sand water

Index terms
Abstract terms are singular. For example: Liberty Affection Envy Many times index terms have to be qualified. One example is the homograph: Bases (Military) Bases (mathematics) Bases (Tiffany lamps)