When I’ve taught indexing, it’s always been fun to see students go through the first lesson, which has nothing to do with building their own indexes. I start by asking them to go find two books with indexes and describe what those indexes are like: what aspects are useful, what aspects seem to be less […]
Mapping the Page in Book Indexing
I’ve noticed that beginning indexers working with traditional print books can struggle with the challenge of realizing that the most specific target they can give a user is the page number. Over-Indexing For some detail-oriented people who want (sometimes desperately!) to get the index user/reader right to the term they’ve selected, slipping into over-indexing is […]
Indexer Mind
Folks often ask, after the initial “Someone actually creates the index that goes in the back of a book?”: “How do you go about figuring that out?” Or someone who’s thinking about being an indexer will wonder if the career field is a good match for them. This is an important question because there’s a […]
Numbers in Indexes
The most memorable characteristic of an index is the arrangement of the entries in alphabetical order*. It makes it easy to find what you’re looking for, and even the picky differences between word-by-word and letter-by-letter arrangement aren’t noticeable to a casual user. But what about numbers? Since they’re not letters and therefore not obviously subject […]
PI Associate Interview: Maria Sosnowski
We’re running a series of interviews to introduce you all to our wonderfully talented group of independent indexers and taxonomists who enable us to say “yes” to the variety of project types and turnaround times our clients are looking for. Today, we’d like you to get to know our talented legal indexer, Maria Sosnowski. Your Business […]
PI Partner Profile: S. Anne Fifer
We are happy to report that we have a new PI Partner in Anne Fifer. We’d love to have you get to know her through this blog interview! Your Business PI: How long have you been doing indexing? I started indexing in 2008 part-time while teaching medical terminology at a local community college. I was […]
