Indexing:

Procedures & Guidelines

Procedures
&
Guidelines
Christine G. Balmes
Mary Jane Eule
Darnyll Joshua Jaromahum
Melissa Ann Callejo
Procedures:
Examine the text carefully
Read the text several times, page by page, to be able to
analyze the contents and determine the indexable
topics.
Select the topics to be indexed taking into
consideration their significance to the central theme of
the book.
Name the topics that were chosen to be indexed and
mark up page proofts.







Alphabetize the entries
Edit the entries
Decide which entries should be the main headings and
which should be the subheadings
Decide whether certain entries will be treated as main
entries or subentries
Main entries unmodified by subentries should not be
followed by long rows or pages number.
Subentries must be concise and informative
Make a final choice among synonyms terms
Provide adequate but not excessive cross referencing
Examples:

Cars Trucks
Chevrolet, 244 Dodge Ram, 219
Mazda, 146 GMC (Jmmy), 143
Volkswagen Mercedes-Benz, 144
See also trucks See also cars

Punctuation
a. The inversion of a phrase used as the heading in a
main entry is punctuated by comma
b. If the heading is followed immediately by page
references, a comma is used between the heading
and the first numeral and between subsequent
numerals
c. If the heading is followed immediately by run-in
subentries, a colon precedes the first subheading.
d. All subsequent subentries are semi colons
Example:

Payments, balance of: definition of, 16: importance
of, 19
Determine the design of the index after the
compilation of the entries
Decide whether subentries will follow an indented or
run- in style.
Typography should be used to differentiate
between types of headings and to distinguish them
from numerals indicating volumes, parts and pages.
Typing, proofreading, and the final review.


GUIDELINES
1. Subject error
o Errors in choosing subject descriptors
Omission errors
Use of a too broad or too narrow term

2. Generic searching
Alphabetical indexes have always presented
difficulties in promoting generic searching
3. Terminology
Terminology evaluation is primary in the domain of thesaurus
construction, but since the end point of bad nomenclature is
the index, evaluating terminology is one method of evaluating
an index.

What must be understood is that thesaurus construction and
indexing activities are interdependent or at least they should
be.

If the writer and user reject the terminology of the thesaurus, it
will make difficult for the indexer, who will be hard pressed to
find words in the controlled and the user will find the index
unsatisfactory from their frame of reference.

In a quality of index, user will locate the terms they expect to
find.


4.Internal guidance
o Cross- references
o Printed instruction on how to use the index


5. Accuracy in referring
Bibliographic citation
Cross- references
6. Entry scattering
One of the problem of an alphabetical index is
scaterring, that is having similar entries spread out from
A to Z.
Scattering can generally be minimized by having clear
rules and by good indexer training .

Example:
We had these entries:
National planning, Regional planning, State
planning, Country planning, and City Planning.


Planning, city Planning
Planning, country City
Planning, national or Country
Planning, regional National
Planning, state
Regional
State
7. Entry differentiation
It is frustrating for user to turn to an entry and find five or
six lines of undifferentiated references.
They are then faced with the task of examining the
references one by one to find the subset needed.
If an entry has more than five or six entries, it should be
broken down.
Example:

PLANNING, 1-2, 5,23,25,28-31,42,53-60, 73, 82, 109-11, 119,
120, 131- 32,143, 152, 160-68, 170, 190, 199,
303-4, 316


Its better to be like this:

PLANNING, 2831, 73, 152, 190, 199
City, 5, 119, 131-132
Country, 1-2, 120, 170, 316
National, 23, 25, 303-4
Regional, 53-60, 82, 143
State, 42, 109-11, 160-68
8. Spelling and punctuation
Incorrect spelling quickly puts clouds over the
quality of an index, not because it is actually that
critical, but because it suggests carelessness to
users and reduces their confidence.

Indexers and editors of quality index make strong
efforts to avoid spelling errors.
Incorrect punctuation is a similar type of error.
The goal here is consistency.
Error in punctuation (or inconsistency) may not be
tragic, but it can affect the image of the index and
can also be mislead.
Punctuation is a major problem in alphabetizing.
The letter of the alphabet all have a known
position in a defined sequence as long as we are
dealing only with few letters, a few simple rule will
suffice.
9. Filing
There has been no shortage of filing rules in the
library profession, but for many years most of the
rules have followed the same general pattern.

The good news now is that there now trend to
simplify rules. For example, the ALA rules have
now relaxed a number of the more rigid rules and
there is no evidence that effectiveness of retrieval
has suffered.

Filing rules are necessary, but a good thing can
be carried too far.
10. Layout
A quality layout depends heavily on typographic
conventions.
Punctuation, type, size and font can quickly
differentiate between units.
Main entries are generally in heavy print, often
in capital letters, and subheadings are in
lighter print and small letters.
See Reference are often italicized and perhaps
set off with parentheses to make their
appearance unique.
It is also standard practice to use indention to set
off subheadings from main headings, since a
strainght column words is confusing and difficult
to read.

11.Length and type
Index length should be 3-5% of the
pages of a typical nonfiction book, about 5-
8% for a history or biography and about 15-
20% for reference books


12. Cost
Economics is an unavoidable factor in producing
quality indexes. Stringent cost constraints may
result in a poor index or at least cause it to fall
short what it might have been.

13. Standards
Indexing and abstracting standards are essential.
Standards promote consistency and uniformity and they
attempt to codify experience and successful tradition.
Standards are the result of our collective history of
experience. They represent the criteria by which we
measure and assess our indexes and our indexing activity.
This standards provides guidelines and a uniform
vocabulary for use in the preparation of indexes.
It defines what an index is, describes the nature of indexes
and the various type of indexes and then makes
recommendations concerning the presentation and style of
indexes.
Indexing Techniques for Periodicals
Always index names of persons honored by awards or prizes and those
eulogized in obituaries.
Every article that have permanent value should be indexed under all
topics and issues dealt with.
Editorial should be indexed under their topics as any other article but
differentiated from others by the addition of (Ed.) or (E). The titles of
editorials may be indexed under a collective heading Editorials.
Letters to the editor if considered indexable should be indexed by topic,
not under a caption that may have been assigned by the editor. It is
advisable index at least the name of the person who critical an article as
well as the authors response.
Book reviews are indexed by the title of the book,
followed by the name of the author, the locator,
the designation (R) unless all book reviews are
listed under the class heading Book Review or
in separate index, e.g.

Guide to research books, 10
th
ed: (Sheehy) 68
(R)

Thank
You!!!