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Back to Fall 2005 Conference program page
Fall 2005 Conference Presentation
Book Indexing Specialties Panel
Moderated by NEASI Chair of Continuing Studies, May Hasso
Summary by Ray Curry
Three experienced indexers shared thoughts and helpful instructions on their specialties.
Textbook indexing - presented by Melanie Piper
Biography indexing - presented by Diane Brenner
Art and music indexing - presented by Marilyn Rowland
Textbook Indexing, presented by Melanie Piper
Melanie Piper began by explaining that there are different kinds of textbooks and recommended college textbooks for beginning indexers. These types of books are well-organized and contain headings, keywords, and glossaries--all of which are aids to indexing. There are a few challenges, however. Authors and editors may be working on the book as you are indexing it, so you may have to make revisions to the index. Authors may be writing later chapters while earlier chapters are being indexed, resulting in a lag between chapters. With the writing lag, there can be a few weeks’ wait. The schedule is a little more relaxed than indexing other type of books. This gives more freedom in that one can mesh it with more work or enjoy the time off.
Elementary school textbooks come with their own set of standards with state-by-state differences. Often they are listed in the book. It seems sometimes the publisher puts the cart before horse on these standards. One can end up with not so useful entries, e.g., graphical organizers.
Sources for jobs may be found in the annual publications Literary Marketplace and Writer’s Market, as well as the periodicals of professional organizations. Packagers are often forgotten and a worthwhile source. Melanie recommended looking at publishers’ websites to see what they’re doing. Successful indexers show that they are interested, capable of doing the work, knowledgeable, and leave a good impression. Checking back with college professors who may be revising for new editions can also be a source of call back jobs.
Though not necessarily the most exciting books to index, textbooks are a substantial market for income.
Biography Indexing: a Brief Overview, presented by Diane BrennerA biography emerges via diverse forms: narrative, memoir, or from letters, journals, and diaries.
Ms. Brenner gave these reason for the appeal: that biographies require a different process, that often the subject’s life is/was interesting, they have variety and are fun. Her experience is that there are few hard & fast rules.
The audience may vary. She gave these examples: readers looking for basic information, for historians or researchers, for family or friends, or for voyeurs. The first challenge is “Who is it for?” This determines the level of indexing. She overindexes, then in the editing phase, collapses entries where needed.
In a biography, it may be complex to answer the key questions “What is the subject?” and “Who are they?” There must be a dramatic flow to hold the reader’s attention. In analyzing the subject, one may find that part of it is about an individual and part about war.
Biographies often need more time. It may be necessary to rework from the beginning. The special challenges come from the following: 1) the term choice is often difficult, 2) whether to include the subject and choice of the entries for it, 3) names, 4) subheadings (alphabetical or chronological), 5) items written or produced by the subject, and 6) dealing with illustrations and maps.
Themes and relationships take time to uncover. One must decide whether to include titles with foreign names.The indexer must strive to be levelhanded, even though the writing on the subject be positive and negative. One can always refuse work based on personal taste/ethics. The issue of political correctness may arise based on the language used in book.
Ms. Brenner commented that headnotes are important for a biography index. It is helpful to use other biographies on the subject as guides, available from your local library.
Art and Music Indexing, presented by Marilyn Rowland
Marilyn Rowland has substantial experience with art museum exhibition books. She has found that art exhibit books are produced on a tight schedule and not proofed as well as they could be.
With Buddhist art books, the complexity comes from non-Western culture and other languages. Special challenges arise from organizing the art works. For example, in a book on Tibetan furniture, she organized the entries on tables, using subentries of ‘small’ and ‘red.’ Many entries are organized by motifs. This was the case of a book on Japanese sword fittings.
With Tibetan or other unfamiliar languages, Marilyn had to do more queries on correct spellings. She commented that the names are not inverted, with the title listed first.
Concerning music books published by a certain company, she had to contend with handling entries for singers and the comparisons with others, e.g., Frank Sinatra. In a volume on Mendelssohn, the issue was around the naming of works.
Marilyn has found these helpful to the process of indexing:
- use looseleaf notebooks to organize the information by project
- PDF’s are an advantage: search for names; check consistencies
- use separate color highlighters for concepts, people/deities, things/art
- don’t ask for style guide at first.
“A picture is worth a thousand words” especially in indexing art books.
May Hasso has been full time indexer/Boston Informatics since 2000, specializing in back-of-the-book, web-based environment, and journal indexing. She also provides data mapping, taxonomy, and research services for corporations and individuals. Prior to 2000, she has worked as full time database indexer with global firms, indexing business international databases. May has a B.A. in Liberal Arts and a Master’s Degree in Information Science from the City University, London. A member of ASI since 1992, she formerly served as secretary of the Massachusetts Chapter.
Melanie Piper attended the University of Massachusetts for both a bachelors and masters degree in sociology. She has been a nurse of 11 years and has been indexing for four years. She indexes mostly in the social sciences, including sociology, history and political science. Melanie is a lifelong New England resident. She is married and has three children and one very special dog.
Diane Brenner has been a freelance indexer since 1991 (full-time since 1995). She has considerable experience with back-of-the-book, embedded and database indexing. A generalist by education and inclination (with degrees in art history, social planning and environmental toxicology), her "specialties" include American history, art history, biography, children’s books, computer manuals, cookbooks, education, environmental toxicology, how-to books, philosophy, planning, and travel. She is co-author with Marilyn Rowland of “Indexing Art and Art History Materials” (in M. Towery, ed., Indexing Specialties: History, ASI, 1998) and co-editor, also with Marilyn, of Beyond Book Indexing (ASI, 2000). She is completing her second term as Treasurer for the New England chapter of the ASI (NEASI) and has recently been elected to the ASI board of directors.
Marilyn Rowland has been indexing for many years and enjoys indexing all kinds of books, publications, and Web sites. Recently she has focused on art and music books, particularly museum exhibit books. She is a past member of the ASI national board and the Chapter board and has also served as webmaster for both organizations.