The last word: indexers, indexes and indexing for editors - Nicola King

1. INDEXING
FOR
EDITORS
Nicola King

2. ‘Information that cannot be located might as well not exist.’
Nancy Mulvany, Indexing books (2005)

3. Indexers
• What are we like?
• Training and experience

4. Indexes and indexers
Any simpleton may write a book, but it
requires high skill to make an index.
Rossiter Johnson (1840-1931)
Indexing requires a mixture of common sense
and reason plus an element of imaginative
helpfulness – all combining to help the reader.
Pat F. Booth and Mary Piggott, Training in indexing Unit
B: Choice and form of entries. 2nd ed. Society of
Indexers, 1995

5. Indexes and indexers
Indexes need not necessarily be dry,
and in some cases they form the
most interesting portion of a book.
H. B. Wheatley, What is an index? A few
notes on indexes and indexers. London,
1879; reprinted by the Society of Indexers,
2002 (from Hazel K. Bell (ed.), Indexers and indexes in fact and fiction. London: The British
Library, 2001)

6. Indexes and indexers
‘Indexers are like badgers: they are seldom
sighted in the wild, they do their work in the
darkness, and when you see one it’s usually
because they have been run over by an 18-
wheeler.’
Sam Leith, President of the Society of Indexers

7. Indexers are
typically:
• Graduates – often with more than one
degree, a subject plus a masters
and/or training such as librarianship,
archives, etc.
• On their second or third or fourth
careers, a wide range of career
experiences.

8. SI Training Course
SI Training course comprises:
• four course modules
• tutored indexing exercises and formal tests
• group online tutorials led by an experienced indexer
• an online workshop on embedded indexing
• a final non-assessed practical indexing assignment
creating an index to a full-length book
It is a professional qualification and the standard is high.

9. Finding an indexer
• SI Directory https://www.indexers.org.uk/find-an-
indexer/directory/
• SI networking – reciprocal agreement

10. Briefing an indexer
Points to discuss include:
• length and layout of the required index
• do you want more than one index?
• how much of the document is to be indexed?
• time schedule
• the fee

11. Style issues
• Filing order – letter-by-letter or word-by-word?
• Set-out or run-on?
• Typefaces
• Punctuation, e.g. between heading and first locator
• Capitalization of first letter of every entry?
• Locators in full or elided?
• Position of see also cross-references

12. Other points
• Who is the indexer’s point of contact? Make sure there’s
someone available if you’re on holiday
• Observations by the indexer
• Page 230 Sylvia Beech – elsewhere Beach, which I have
used in the index – see also page 281
• In 1908 King Edward and Queen Mary made a royal visit
to ...
• Two people of the same name and it isn’t clear if they
are the same person
• Proofreading observations

13. Indexing fees
• SI suggested rates - £25.50 per hour, £2.85 per page or
£7.70 per thousand words
• Indexer needs to look at the text to see what it is about,
how it is written and whether or not they fancy it.
• Expect to pay more for difficult material, it will take longer,
or if you want it ASAP.

14. How do indexers work?
• Do you have to read the
book?
• Do you have to understand
what it is about?
• Do indexers work on-
screen or from hard copy?
• How can computers help?

15. Thinking like an indexer
• Choosing what to index
• Cross references and double entries
• Personal names
• Locators
• Numerical headings
• Header letters
• Layout
• Capitalization of entries
• Filing order
• Non-alphabetical filing

16. Choosing what to index
• Remember that the purpose of an index is to enable the
user to retrieve useful information as quickly and easily as
possible.
• Do not include trivial or passing references.
• Bear in mind all the different types of user for whom your
index is catering.
• Be consistent in your level of coverage.
• Would anyone look for this entry?
• Would they find anything useful if they did?

17. What to index?
Gertrude Davenport, one of the most popular novelists of the
20th century, was born in 1896, in the last years of Queen
Victoria’s reign, in the staid seaside resort of Eastbourne (East
Sussex), the third child and much-loved only daughter of an
accountant father and teacher mother. She had a happy and
sheltered childhood, idolised by her parents and her two
brothers. She began to write almost as soon as she could
read, and was often discovered scribbling in corners; later she
recalled her eldest brother gently teasing her by calling her
‘our own little Jane Austen’. She went to various schools in
Eastbourne and then read English at Newnham College,
Cambridge.
(An imaginary book on 20th century British women writers)

18. What to index?
When she graduated in 1917 she volunteered to become an
ambulance driver in London; the experiences she had in the
following 18 months, so different to her sheltered middle-
class upbringing, were a deep influence on her and inspired
her to write her first novel, The lyre-bird, in spare moments
snatched from her long working shifts. As is common with
first novels, it is largely autobiographical.
World War I

19. What to index?
In 1924 her life changed with the publication of her next
novel, Angels’ wings (1924), which made her name; it became
a best-seller both in Britain and abroad, and was soon
translated into many languages including French, German,
Spanish, Italian and Portuguese.
In the first flush of her success she moved from Eastbourne to
a flat in London and mixed with the major literary figures of
the day, such as Virginia Woolf and E. M. Forster. Woolf noted
their first meeting in her diary for 20 July 1925; she found
Gertrude very shy, and one can guess that she did not have a
very high opinion of her writing.
Various languages? No –
passing mention in a list

20. writing the heading
feminist: ethics 20, 27, 52; ethnography 1, 3-4, 20-22, 24-25, 81; identity 3,
8, 10, 18, 25-26, 27, 31, 35, 66; method/methodology 1-4, 17-18, 20, 22,
25-26, 37, 40, 90; poet 3, 8, 20; pedagogy 3, 37; poetry 2, 18-20, 24, 94;
practice 18, 20, 32, 37, 94; scholars 96; scholarship 4, 10, 94; theory 17-18,
32, 37, 64
SI course says:
• Headings are usually most helpful if given in noun, verbal noun or
name form.
feminism: ethics..., ethnography... identity... methods.... poet... [do the
terms fit?]
• Terms with an adjective and a noun are entered directly – and inverted
feminist ethics
ethics, feminist..., vegetarian...
vegetarian ethics

21. adjectives alone
public: affairs policy... health ..., information services ..., speaking
i.e. a list of courses at a college - should be entered separately as they are totally
unrelated
public affairs policy
public health
public information services
public speaking
feminism: ethics ... ethnography... identity ... pedagogy... practice... theory... [of]
feminist methods
feminist poetry
feminist scholars and scholarship
Chinese attack (a kind of dummy attack)
Chinese House (place in the trenches)

22. Cross-references
• Cross-references should be used thoughtfully.
• The aim of a cross-reference is to help the user find
relevant information quickly, not to complicate and not
simply to connect things up which have a common interest.

23. see cross-references
see cross-references are made from non-preferred synonyms
and alternative forms to preferred headings.
agriculture see farming
AA see Automobile Association
Saki see Munro, Hector Hugh

24. see also cross-references
see also cross-references are made between related headings
cattle see also dairy farming
ponds see also lakes
women see also feminism

25. Double entries (double posting)
A double entry should be used instead if it would take up no
more space.
crop rotations 6, 24
rotation of crops 6, 24
rather than
crop rotations see rotation of crops
rotation of crops 6, 24
However, the indexer must ensure that the page numbers are
the same in each place.

26. When to omit cross-references?
A cross-reference should not be used where it does not lead to any
new locators.
birds 4, 5, 21; see also robins
robins 4, 5
A cross-reference should normally be omitted where it would be
adjacent to the entry concerned.
Early English style 22, 25
EH see English Heritage
English Heritage (EH) 35, 37, 38
English Nature 14–15

27. Circular cross-references
Beware the circular cross-reference!
climate see weather
weather see climate

28. Position of see also cross-
references
implement sheds
Berkshire 13, 38-9
Lincolnshire 56
Northumberland 73, 84
see also cartsheds; machine sheds
implement sheds (see also cartsheds; machine sheds)
Berkshire 13, 38-9
Lincolnshire 56
Northumberland 73, 84

29. Indexing personal names
Give cross-references where necessary :
Dylan, Bob
Zimmerman, Robert see Dylan, Bob
Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of
Wellesley, Arthur, 1st Duke of Wellington see Wellington
[or vice versa]
Tchaikowsky, Piotr Ilyich
Tschaikowsky, Piotr Ilyich see Tchaikowsky

30. Foreign names
Foreign names are often indexed uninverted:
Mao Tse-Tung
Mohammed Amed
But cross-refs can be made from the inverted form, if you think the reader
will look there.
Foreign names with prefixes should not be indexed under the
prefix:
Beauvoir, Simone de NOT de Beauvoir, Simone
Cross-refs not necessary

31. Other personal name problems
• Persons identified only by a given name or forename
should be indexed under that name:
Edward, the Black Prince
Teresa of Avila, Saint
• Hyphenated surnames are conventionally indexed under
the first element:
Burne-Jones, Sir Edward
• Nick names/professional names entered and sorted
directly:
Lady Gaga
Le Corbusier

32. Locators
‘The purpose of a locator is to lead the user directly to that
part of the document or collection containing the information
to which the index heading refers.’
Information and documentation – Guidelines for the content, organization
and presentation of indexes (BS ISO 999: 1996)
Can be page numbers, illustration refs, table refs, plate
numbers, volumes, paragraphs etc etc

33. Elision (minimal/ minimum
numbering)
none:
12–13, 20–27, 134–138, 200–204, 217–228
Hart’s Rules (Oxford Guide to Style):
12–13, 20–7, 134–8, 200–4, 217–28
Chicago Manual of Style:
12–13, 20–27, 134–38, 200–204, 217–28
Publishers/presses sometimes have their own variants. May also
depend on readers, i.e. children’s books, or space available.

34. ‘Strings’
roses 13, 16, 17–20, 29–30, 41–2, 43–5, 58–61,
74–6
better as:
roses
floribunda 13, 16, 58–61
rambling 17–20, 29–30, 58–61
shrub 41–2, 43–5, 74–6

35. Space before locators
Two spaces, or a comma and a space, are normally used
between the heading and the first locator:
roses 12
or
roses, 12
Apollo 13 12, 25, 36
SMC 18136 8, 28, 16

36. Special types of locator
bold type to indicate major coverage
public schools 84, 85, 87–8
ways of indicating illustrations and tables
Chichester, cathedral 24, 25 London, schools 36, 39 (T)
Chichester, cathedral 24, 25 (fig.) London, schools 36, 39 (table)
Chichester, cathedral 24, 25 (ill.) London, schools 36, Table 10
Chichester, cathedral 24, Fig. 7
Chichester, cathedral 24, Plate II
ways of indicating footnotes and endnotes
Green, Joshua 34, 37n6
Green, Joshua 34, 37n
Brown, Frederick 35, 38 and n

37. Filing numerical headings
Index headings beginning with arabic and roman numerals should be
placed in a separate sequence at the beginning of the index, unless there
are few of them, in which case they can be filed as if spelt out:
Twining, Louisa
200-pauper workhouses
Tynemouth
Numerals as prefixes in names of chemical compounds are disregarded in
alphabetization:
hepatitis
5-hydroxytryptamine
hypothyroidism

38. SET OUT
mackerel, 170–73
baked, 170–73
fried with bacon, 172
hors d’oeuvre au vin blanc, 355
smoked, 362
soused, 355
RUN ON
mackerel, 170–73; baked, 170–73; fried with bacon, 172; hors d’oeuvre au vin
blanc, 355; smoked, 362; soused, 355
Adapted from Jane Grigson, Fish Cookery (Penguin)
Layout: set out or run on?

39. igloo-type
greenhouses, 313
Indian shot, 325
informal hedges, 178
insecticides, 330–43
insects:
pests, 329–37
predators, 344, 345
wildlife gardens, 201
intercropping, 243
irises, 123
Irishman’s cuttings, 108
iron, 15, 17
Japanese knotweed,
353
Jerusalem artichokes,
250
juniper, 274
kale, 255
kitchen gardens,
ornamental, 202–3
see also vegetables
Igloo-type
greenhouses, 313
Indian shot, 325
Informal hedges, 178
Insecticides, 330–43
Insects:
pests, 329–37
predators, 344, 345
wildlife gardens, 201
Intercropping, 243
Irises, 123
Irishman’s cuttings, 108
Iron, 15, 17
Japanese knotweed, 353
Jerusalem artichokes,
250
Juniper, 274
Kale, 255
Kitchen gardens,
ornamental, 202–3 see
also Vegetables
Capitalization of main entries
UK style US style

40. WORD-BY-WORD
Green Belt
Green Card (film)
green plovers
green-rooms
Greene King Ltd.
greenfinches
Greenland
Greenwich
LETTER-BY-LETTER
Green Belt
Green Card (film)
Greene King Ltd.
greenfinches
Greenland
green plovers
green-rooms
Greenwich
Filing order

41. WORD-BY-WORD
anal canal
anal fissure
anal fistula
anal sphincters
analgesia
LETTER-BY-LETTER
anal canal
anal fissure
anal fistula
analgesia
anal sphincters
Filing order – more examples
Example from D. Blake and others, Indexing the medical and biological sciences
(Society of Indexers, 1995)

42. Cats – sort order?
caterpillars
cat's cradles
cat burglars
cat-ice
catacombs
Catholic church
catmint
catsuits
cattle
Catherine wheels
Word by word:
takes account of the spaces between the
words, alphabetizing each word
separately (a hyphen counts as a space)
Letter by letter:
ignores spaces and hyphens and
alphabetizes straight through

43. Word-by-word
cat burglars
cat-ice
catacombs
caterpillars
Catherine wheels
Catholic church
catmint
cat's cradles
catsuits
cattle
Letter-by-letter
catacombs
cat burglars
caterpillars
Catherine wheels
Catholic church
cat-ice
catmint
cat's cradles
catsuits
cattle
Sort orders

44. Filing order for multi-word
headings
Index headings beginning with the same term should
be filed in the following sequence:
term with or without subheadings: cats
breeds
care
term with qualifier: Cats (periodical)
term as first element of a longer term: cats’ cradles

45. Chronological:
flintwork
Neolithic
Bronze Age
Iron Age
Numerical:
bus routes
51
60
700
Non-alphabetical filing

46. What makes a good index?
An index is a practical tool for the retrieval of information,
and if it does not do this efficiently it is useless.
The best test of a good index is not whether it obeys a set of
rules but whether it does its job efficiently.
It must ensure that as much information as possible is easily
retrievable by the index user, whether or not he or she has
read the text.

47. What makes a good index?
It should be sufficiently detailed to meet the expected needs
of the user.
It must permit the retrieval of information by a variety of
entry routes.
It must cater for someone seeking specific information which
may be marginal to the main subject of the book.
It must cater for someone who does not already have a good
knowledge of the subject of the book.

48. What makes a good index?
The detail, style and layout of an index should be consistent.
It should be constructed according to a logical, balanced,
considered, and easily recognizable pattern.
It should be as user-friendly as possible. The more trouble the
indexer takes, the easier the index will be to use.

49. What makes a good index?
The indexer should be impartial and objective both in
selecting subject matter and in choosing terminology.
The indexer must have sufficient knowledge to fully
understand the subject matter of the text.

50. carriers 218, 218, 222,
228–31, 228–31, 304,
306, 313
Casement, Roger 338
.
.
.
pigeons 68, 133–4, 134,
136, 136–7, 200
carriers, ammunition 96
carrier racks (parcel carriers) 25,
37, 72, 116, 200, 218, 218, 222,
228–31, 228–31, 257, 270, 278,
287, 301-2, 304, 306, 313
Casement, Roger 338
carrier (human porters) 332
carriers, mail 71
carrier pigeons 131–7, 137
carrier tricycle 313
pigeons 68, 131–4, 134, 136,
136–7, 200
Changes – didn’t tell the indexer

51. Changes – get them right
Lauren Pikó Milton Keynes in British Culture, Routledge
Author’s index?
Some issues with names?
Patrick Abercrombie needs to be in
A
Effort to correct William Morris left
him lingering in the Ws

52. Making changes – ethical issues
• Censorship – selective or deliberate exclusion of entries,
often because of cultural beliefs of the anticipated
readership or author request
• An indexer was asked to include every mention, however trivial, of
a particular culture and its creation myth, but not to include any
references to evolution. Conflict between the indexer’s
responsibility to their client and to the profession and the readers.
• Text antithetical to the indexer’s belief
• The subject matter was not clear when the indexer accepted a job,
and the book takes an opposing stance to one the indexer holds
(abortion, war, politics). If the indexer completes the index, have
they inadvertently or purposefully introduced bias?

53. Assessing an index
• Assessing an index
• Proofreading an index
• Dealing with problems

55. • Is it of the agreed
length?
• Is alphabetical order
correct?
• Is punctuation
consistent / does it
follow house style?
• Is spelling accurate?
Assessing an index

56. • Are the headings
appropriate/relevant
for the readers?
• Are there long ‘strings’
of undifferentiated
locators? (5-6 max, up
to 7-8 occasionally)
• Are locators correct?
Assessing an index

57. • Lots of locators at the
main heading and some
random subs
• No subheadings
• Lord Holland – statue of
in Holland Park
Main entry locators
Tilley, Christopher ed. London’s Urban Landscape, UCLPress
A statue of a seated third Lord Holland looking south, cane in
hand, is in the middle of the pond. A pigeon sits on his head,
and shit runs down his bronze face (fig. 9.3). A schoolboy
passes by, giggles, and takes a picture on his iPhone.

58. • Are the subheadings
useful?
• Is the most
important word at
the beginning
• Are they in a logical
order?
jewellery
from the bath house
from the cemetery
from the mausoleum
from the villa
jewellery
armlets
beads
bracelets
brooches
finger rings
pendants
Assessing subheadings

59. Subheadings, overcomplicated
loose cannabis, 30-1, 105-6
marijuana, 30, 30, 62
memorabilia, 51
menus, cannabis, 29, 32, 62-3, 103-4
Rewriting the book in the index may
not help the reader.
Jacques, Scott Grey Area: Regulating Amsterdam’s Coffeeshops, UCLPress

60. Subheadings, order of
Jon Agar Science Policy under Thatcher, UCLPress
The sort order under the
entry for Margaret Thatcher
is based on the first word –
but prepositions and
conjunctions are usually
ignored in subheadings
Would this be better if the
important words were
prioritised?

61. Chapters - break them down
Duncan, D and Smyth A eds. Book Parts. OUP.

62. Subheadings, of the chapter
Rosenow, D., M. Phelps, A. Meek and I. Freestone, 2018. Things That
Travelled: Mediterranean Glass in the First Millennium CE. UCLPress
The entry for gold-glass could perhaps have been
focussed on the aims of the paper - gold-glass
techniques, or split into techniques, phases and
items, possibly also find spots.
The see also x-ref from gold-glass
to Wilshare collection is
reciprocated.
The level of indexing is not the
same for the two chapters.

63. Gold glass
gold glass 22–41, 368–82
background 22–3
distribution 39–40, 41
exaleiptra with gold decoration 25, 26–7
fondi d’oro 33–4, 34, 38
gilded threads (Schlangenfadengläser) 33–5
gold-band glass 29–33, 31
mosaic glass 29, 30
powdered gold-leaf 37–8
roundels (Nuppengläser/medallions) 33, 35–6, 36
sandwich technique 24, 25, 25, 26, 27–9, 28
superficial gilding 24, 33, 36, 37
Wilshere Collection, scientific examination 368–82

64. French, 12
• Are locators correct?
• Are the headings
appropriate/relevant
for the readers?
Assessing an index

65. • Do cross-references
work?
• see (from a term with no
locators to another term
with locators)
• see also (from a term with
at least one locator to
another term with locators)
• Do double entries
match?
Artful Dodger, 134. see also Dickens,
Charles
Defoe, Daniel, 93, 191. see also Flanders,
Moll, Fiction
Dickens, Charles, 18, 93, 134, 135, 138,
139, 191. See also Artful Dodger,
Fiction, Magwitch Abel.
Fiction 20, 39, 69, 93, 134-35, 139, 191.
See also Artful Dodger, Defoe
Daniel, Dickens Charles, Literature,
Magwitch Able, Novel
Literature, 4. See also Fiction, Novel
Magwich, Abel, 18-19 See also Dickens
Charles
Novel, 67, 69 109, 134, 139, 162. See
also Fiction, Literature.
Assessing an index
p93 – the lives of some of Britain’s earliest Australian
transportees provided easy fodder for a curious
public, and proved every bit as fantastical as
something Dickens or Defoe created.
p191 – suggested reading list

66. • Is the layout
consistent?
• Is the text indexed
consistently?
• Is the introductory note
helpful?
Assessing an index
Lady Shore set sail with almost 70 female
convicts, 30 crew, about 60 soldiers and
some German, Spanish and French
political prisoners and some reprieved
male capital convicts ... There was an
uprising of the French prisoners and it
ended up at Montevideo in Uruguay ... the
female convicts were offloaded and some
eventually became servants in the city.

67. Introductory notes
Most indexes need an introductory statement on:
• coverage
• conventions observed
• arrangement
• other relevant matters, if not self-evident
Index entries are arranged alphabetically in letter-by-letter order
(spaces between the words in an entry being ignored); ‘cashless
society’ therefore precedes ‘cash nexus’.
Numbers are arranged as though spelt out, e.g. ‘10-minute rule’ is
filed as ‘Ten-minute rule’.
References to dictionary pages have the suffix D; those to footnotes
are indicated by n.

68. Proofreading: checking
indents
• are they the right depth?
• are turnovers correctly indented?
shrimps, 288–90
butter, 22
Pompano baked with stuffing,
128
potted, 290
sauce
English, 24
Madame Soares’s, 31
velouté, 34
shelling, notes on, 290
turbot with shrimp sauce,
109–10
Adapted from Jane Grigson, Fish Cookery (Penguin)

69. ……
……
shrimps, 288–90
butter, 22
Pompano baked with
stuffing, 128
potted, 290
sauce
English, 24
Madame Soares’s, 31
velouté, 34
shrimps cont.
shelling, notes on, 290
turbot with shrimp
sauce, 109–10
smoked fish, 350–67
cooking, notes on, 358
paste, 387–8
Adapted from Jane Grigson, Fish
Cookery (Penguin)
‘Continued’ lines
right-hand page new left-hand page

70. ARDINGLY
canals 14, 46
electricity supply 223, 225, 227
railways 67, 133, 136, 194, 197–8, 219
London, Brighton and South Coast Railway
108, 112, 142, 195
London and Brighton Railway (Rennie) 71,
72, 75
roads and turnpikes 17, 52–3
water supply 159–60
ARDINGLY
canals 14, 46
electricity supply 223, 225,
227
railways 67, 133, 136, 194,
197–8, 219
London, Brighton and
South Coast Railway 108,
112, 142, 195
London and Brighton
Railway (Rennie) 71, 72,
75
roads and turnpikes 17, 52–3
water supply 159–60
Is larger type always preferable?

71. Feedback to the indexer
• The author says that all the page numbers are out by two
• Can we include the ref to Anni Albers, she’s really popular (in a
paragraph about Richard Grune “He was instructed to repeat the
preliminary course, as were eight other students, including one who
would become among the most famous Bauhäusler, the future Anni
Albers.”)
• Can we include Churchill? A book about the history of the NHS written
by a retired GP
• in a sentence about a surgeon - Philip “Pip” Newman was the elder statesman,
a gentle bear of a man, veteran of Second World War medicine, the man
chosen to repair Churchill’s fractured femur, an expert in spinal disorders and
the Secretary of the British Orthopaedic Association.
• And in a paragraph about buildings - “I was fortunate to work in two buildings
that were fit for purpose and of superb design. They made me glad to work
there, to expand what we were doing for patients and ourselves. Churchill was
right. Buildings that we shape ourselves do indeed allow us to do more, and so
help shape what we do and do not do. His observation needs extending to a
coordinated plan throughout the NHS, and as the population ages, we need it
ever more quickly.”

72. Dealing with problems
• What sorts of error can you fix yourself?
• Keep in mind possible knock-on effects on other
parts of the index
• Are you sure you fully understand the complexities
of the index?
• Dedicated indexing software enables many
changes to be made very easily
• … consult the indexer if at all possible

73. Asking the indexer to make
changes
• the indexer best understands the structure
of his/her own index
• any change may have knock-on effects on
the rest of the index
• dedicated indexing software enables many
changes to be made very easily
• if not, you risk infringing the indexer’s moral
rights

74. Making changes 1
• Software changes – ask the indexer to do this kind of thing:
• All pages have shifted up by two, or a section has moved because
widows and orphans have been dealt with, a picture moved etc.
You don’t know how many entries are affected by a small change,
very easy for the indexer to do this.
• Layout – you want to save space by changing from set-out to run-
on
• Page numbering – elision – you want to save space by changing to
a more compact version
• Capitalization – chances are the indexer can do this in the software
but they may need to make some changes to the terms to make
sure the meaning is clear (Viola – instrument or plant?)
• Subheading orders – you want to change from alpha to another

75. Making changes 2
• You want to take out sub-sub entries. Software can usually
collapse these, but the indexer might need to reallocate
some of the locators by introducing other sub headings
• Rephrasing entries to shorten lines – the indexer knows if
they have used similar phrases elsewhere and can make
changes to all affected entries by grouping text.
• If you take out chunks of entries what will the knock on
effects be? The indexer knows!
• If you or the author add entries are you making them
correctly, are they only passing mentions? How does it
impact on the usability of the index by the readers?

76. https://www.asindexing.org/about-indexing/index-evaluation-checklist/
American Society of Indexers Index Evaluation Checklist
Resources for evaluating

77. End – thank you for listening!
Nicola King
chair@indexers.org.uk