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This is mostly for Lori, the cybertechcomm indexmeister, but I'm asking
over the net to solicit a public reply, in case others are similarly
wracked with angst over the issue, and because it fits tangentially with a
recent thread.
A good many academic books have separate indexes,--e.g., one for "subjects"
and one for "names". The more indexes there are, the more aggravating I
find it (one linguistics book I know has four separate indexes, for
subjects, names, rules & principles, and languages). But even two adds
significantly to my search time, especially since they usually come with
virtually no navigational help (tabs, headers, whatever).
Why? Are there readers who prefer this? Are multiple indexes cheaper to
produce? Are some indexers sadists? Why?
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Randy Allen Harris
raha -at- watarts -dot- uwaterloo -dot- ca
Rhetoric and Professional Writing, Department of English, University of
Waterloo, Waterloo ON N2L 3G1, CANADA; 519 885-1211, x5362; FAX: 519 884-8995
