Indexing Books

349 Pages·2005·1.977 MB·English

by  Mulvey, Laura

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Indexing Books
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On Writing, Editing, and Publishing Doing Honest Work in College
Jacques Barzun Charles Lipson
Tricks of the Trade How to Write a BA Thesis
Howard S. Becker Charles Lipson
Writing for Social Scientists The Chicago Guide to Writing about
Howard S. Becker Multivariate Analysis
Jane E. Miller
The Craft of Translation
John Biguenet and Rainer Schulte, editors The Chicago Guide to Writing about Numbers
Jane E. Miller
The Craft of Research
Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, and Mapping It Out
Joseph M. Williams Mark Monmonier
Glossary of Typesetting Terms The Chicago Guide to Communicating Science
Richard Eckersley, Richard Angstadt, Charles Scott L. Montgomery
M. Ellerston, Richard Hendel, Naomi B.
Pascal, and Anita Walker Scott Indexing Books
Nancy C. Mulvany
Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes
Robert M. Emerson, Rachel I. Fretz, and Getting into Print
Linda L. Shaw Walter W. Powell
Legal Writing in Plain English A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses,
Bryan A. Garner and Dissertations
Kate L. Turabian
From Dissertation to Book
William Germano Tales of the Field
John Van Maanen
Getting It Published
William Germano Style
Joseph M. Williams
A Poet’s Guide to Poetry
Mary Kinzie A Handbook of Biological Illustration
Frances W. Zweifel
The Chicago Guide to Collaborative
Ethnography
Luke Eric Lassiter
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Indexing Books
second edition
Nancy C. Mulvany
the university of chicago press • chicago and london
Nancy C. Mulvany is a professional indexer and past president of the
American Society of Indexers. She has written articles on indexing
for a variety of publications and taught book indexing courses for
fifteen years.
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
©1994, 2005 by Nancy Claire Mulvany
All rights reserved. Published 2005
Printed in the United States of America
14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 1 2 3 4 5
ISBN: 0-226-55276-4 (cloth)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mulvany, Nancy C.
Indexing books / Nancy C. Mulvany.— 2nd ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-226-55276-4 (alk. paper)
1. Indexing. I. Title.
Z695.9.M8 2005
025.3—dc22
2005004214
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum require-
ments of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—
Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-
1992.
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Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xiii
1 Introduction to Book Indexing 1
Information Overload 3
Open-system vs. Closed-system Indexing 4
The Future of the Book 5
The Index as Paratext 6
The Long History of Indexes 7
What Is an Index? 7
The Purpose of an Index 10
The Audience: Who Uses Indexes? 13
Terminology 17
References 19
2 The Author and the Index 21
The Book Contract and the Index 23
The Writing Process and the Index 25
Who Should Prepare the Index? 28
Relationship between Author and Indexer 34
3 Getting Started 43
The Book Production Process 45
The Nature of Indexing Work 47
What Not to Index 51
What Is Indexable? 54
How to Index the Indexable Material 56
Interpreting the Publisher’s Instructions 63
Usability and Index Style 67
Estimating the Size of an Index 69
4 Structure of Entries 75
External Structure 77
Internal Structure 78
5 Arrangement of Entries 111
Order of Characters 114
Word-by-Word Alphabetizing 116
Letter-by-Letter Alphabetizing 116
Basic Rules Affecting Both Alphabetizing Orders 117
Other Alphabetizing Guidelines 118
Nonalphabetic Arrangement in Indexes 120
How to Choose an Arrangement Order 126
6 Special Concerns in Indexing 129
Abbreviations and Acronyms 131
Uppercase and Lowercase Letters 133
International Characters 133
Numerals, Symbols, and Other Nonalphabetic Characters
in Entries 134
Multiauthored Works 144
Multivolume Works 146
Multiple Indexes 149
Translations 151
Single-source Indexing 152
7 Names, Names, Names 155
Personal Names 158
Names with Only a Forename 167
Roman Names 168
Obscure Names 168
Names with Particles 168
Non-European Names 171
Geographic Names 177
Organization Names 180
Alphabetizing of Names 184
Names of Works 185
8 Format and Layout of the Index 189
Overall Index Style 192
Indented Style 193
Run-in Style 194
Other Styles 195
Cross-reference Format and Placement 196
Special Typography 201
Final Submission Formats 203
Layout of the Index 208
9 Editing the Index 219
Editing by the Indexer 222
Review by the Author 231
Editing by the Editor 233
Reducing the Length of an Index: Tips for Editors 237
Revising an Index for a Revised Edition 238
10 Tools for Indexing 243
Manual Methods 245
Automatic Indexing 249
Computer-aided Indexing 252
The Future 269
Appendix A: Index Specifications Worksheet 273
Appendix B: Resources for Indexers 277
Professional Associations 278
Standards Organizations 279
Internet Discussion Group 279
Training in Indexing 280
Publishers of Dedicated Indexing Software 281
Winners of the ASI–H. W. Wilson Award for
Excellence in Indexing 282
Internet Resources 283
References 285
Index 291
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| ix |
Preface
Many times during the writing of this book I asked myself why I had
taken on the task. My first motivation was quite pedestrian: I needed a
text for my classes. After teaching book indexing for several years, I grew
tired of piecing together course materials. I exposed my students to a bit
from here and a bit from there, often contradictory material that had to
be put into perspective through lectures or with my own additional writ-
ten material. While G. Norman Knight’s book Indexing, the Art of (1979),
or Martha Wheeler’s treatise “Indexing: Principles, Rules, and Examples”
(1968), would have been a fine primary text, both are out of print. Also, I
recognized that not every aspiring indexer could take my class or one of
the few others offered in this country that are devoted to book indexing.
Those who wish to know about book-indexing methods have few places
to turn for reference.
Like my classes, this book attempts to address the real-world aspects
of book indexing. But I must include here the caveats I present to my stu-
dents during our first class session.
Book indexing is something you will either enjoy or detest; there is
little middle ground. You will have a knack for it or you won’t. I do not
believe that indexing can be taught. Rules, and the reasons for following
or not following them, can be presented. Various index formats can be
discussed. However, the ability to analyze text objectively and accurately
and to produce a conceptual map that directs readers to specific portions
of the text involves a way of thinking that can only be guided and encour-
aged, not taught. I compare my book-indexing class to a studio painting