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Subject:Indexing From:Randy Allen Harris <raha -at- WATARTS -dot- UWATERLOO -dot- CA> Date:Sun, 22 Aug 1993 14:04:11 -0400
The ideal index would be the joint issue of the writer and the indexer (the
latter as captain of the project), with substantial consultation with
subject matter specialists and representative users.
A book I am quite intimate with just went to press having been
professionally indexed. The indexer did a generally splendid and
comprehensive job on the main text, but apparently had no experience with
scholarly books: the first draft of the index did not cover any of the
material in the (50 pages of dense) footnotes; the second (and,
unfortunately, final) draft was only marginally better. Users can now find
general discussions of issues, but not the more detailed and heavily
referenced discussions of those issues that they are likely searching for
in the index.
Randy Allen Harris raha -at- watarts -dot- uwaterloo -dot- ca
Rhetoric and Professional Writing 519 885-1211, x5362
English, U of Waterloo FAX: 519 884-8995
Waterloo ON, CANADA, N2L 3G1
