by Kathleen Spaltro
© Copyright 2000 by Kathleen Spaltro. All Rights Reserved.
Professionals
trained in back of the book indexing often feel both intrigued and
somewhat intimidated by the novelties collectively termed "web
indexing." However, like settlers in America bringing their seeds and
seedlings from abroad, they will find a new habitat in which some of
what they cherish as familiar will still flourish. Beyond Book
Indexing, a new Information Today Incorporated and American Society of
Indexers publication, provides a much-needed reference with which they
may chart the unknown seas of web indexing.
This resource
compiles "how-to" articles useful for several distinct purposes. Thus,
an indexer might pick up this text at different points in her or his
professional development: first to skim, then to plan, and still later
to go back to it to meet another goal, for it satisfies a multiplicity
of purposes.
Recurrent features include pointers on why an
hourly rate is more reasonable than a per-page rate, on how an indexer
can get work and market herself or himself, and on where to find more
information in both print and online resources.
The text
serves the purposes of the following people (or the same person at
different points in her or his professional evolution):
On
the way to looking up any particular topic, the reader will glean
insights that will render the unfamiliar world of computer-transformed
indexing less strange. Embedded indexing and web indexing, for
instance, share a common feature of having floating locators. Having no
page references on a web site creates such challenges as distinguishing
between a substantive and a superficial discussion and differentiating
multiple references. Solutions proposed and explained here include
writing "locator text," sorting locators, rating them, or even going to
the extent of creating multiple indexes. Thus, besides giving direction
to an indexer seeking information about a particular topic, the book
begins to demystify the entire subject. It will be a purchase that will
prove valuable, not once, but many times.
Review author: Kathleen Spaltro
For more information on purchasing this book, please see the following sites:
ASI publications page
Information Today, Inc. indexing books