*dimsumdolly* - the different morsels of the life of a foodie

Indexing

I've been attending a three-day course on indexing and it has really opened up my eyes to the work that indexers do. I used to think that indexing a book was really easy - all you needed to do was find that particular word on that page and note down the page number. But no, it's not that simple. It really requires a good command of the language and good understanding of the subject matter and the intended audience of the publication. In addition, an indexer needs to be just as meticulous and detail-oriented as a copyeditor.

If a word appears on that page but is only mentioned in passing, the page doesn't have to be indexed. Conversely, if a word doesn't yet the concept of it is talked about in the pages, these pages have to be indexed. So a lot of judgment calls to be made and thankfully, indexing is not something that can be done by computers. Computers can only aid to make the job easier, but indexing still requires the human brain to play around with words.

There really is a fine art to indexing! So next time you flip through those pages at the back of a book, do make a mental note of all the hard work that has gone into it!