I - COMPILATION
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2011
Summary
In the Instructions for an Index to the Statute Law, by Sir Henry Thring, already referred to, we find the following clear definitions which will serve to open this portion of our case:—
“The basis of an index to a book of the ordinary kind is a series of titles or catch-words arranged in alphabetical order and indicative of the main topics treated of in the book.”
“The object of an index is to indicate the place in a book or collection of books in which particular information is to be found. Such an index is perfect in proportion as it is concise in expression, whilst exhaustive in its indication of every important topic of the subject to which it is an index.”
The question naturally arises—how is the work to be set about? In the Special Report on the Public Libraries of the United States of America, Part I, 1876 (pp. 727–732), is an article on “Book Indexes” by F. B. Perkins, which contains some rather elementary instruction as to writing, cutting up, and pasting, but in these matters of detail the best way of proceeding will always be the way that the indexer feels that he can work best.
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- Information
- What is an Index?A Few Notes on Indexes and Indexers, pp. 41 - 55Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010First published in: 1879