Index number

“ This paramount characteristic of the good indexer is by no means an easy one to acquire. When the indexer is absorbed [pg 179] in the work upon which he is working, he takes for granted much with which the consulter coming fresh to the subject is not familiar. The want of this characteristic is most marked in the case of the bad indexer.
In printing references to the entries in an index it is important to make a distinction between the volume and the page; this is done best by printing the number of the volumes in Roman letters and the page in Arabic numerals. ”

“ The resulting index number is, therefore, presumably more promptly responsive to any influences affecting it than any other index number of wholesale prices which has been constructed. The list of commodities on which it is based includes 75 commodities and 155 series of price quotations as follows:
(5) The frequency of calculating the index number, which means the frequency of adjusting the dollar's weight, depends on a number of circumstances, including the time required to calculate the index number and that required for the effect of each adjustment to be felt. ”

“ A generation ago index numbers, a vital element in the plan, were suspect; now they are almost universally used among intelligent business men. At the beginning of the Great War the correction of wages by means of an index number was a purely academic idea and was ridiculed when first suggested seriously. ”

“ There are many other absurd headings, but these are the worst instances. They show the confusion of not only placing references where they would never be looked for, but of giving similar entries all over the index under whatever heading came first to the mind of the indexer. For instance, there is one Afternoon Outing, one Annual Outing, one Ladies' Outing, one Summer Outing, and three other Outings under O. None of these have any references the one from the other.
There are a large number of indexes [pg 56] in which not only the best heading is not chosen, but the very worst is. ”

“ Having said so much, it seems necessary [pg 217] to explain rather more fully what the general index should contain and what should be omitted. To explain it in a few words, it should be a sort of encyclopædia of references rather than of direct information; but it should contain more headings than any existing encyclopædia. Every one must have felt the want of some book which would give information or references on a large number of subjects that are constantly topics of ordinary conversation, but are consistently ignored in the ordinary books of reference. ”

“ When a good groundwork has been made, the index could be printed; and doubtless, if this printed index was widely circulated, a large number of helpers would speedily be found. Many persons know of places where full information on some subject may be found, and would be glad to place their collections where they would be helpful to others.
There can surely be no doubt that a general inquiry office with such an ever-growing index and a library of printed indexes would be a boon not only to the student, but to the general public. ”

“ The ideal index might be conceived to consist of a considerable number of compartments, or their equivalents, each bearing a different index-heading, into which the sets of finger prints of different persons may be severally sorted, so that all similar sets shall lie in the same compartment. ”

“ In an alphabetical index the alphabet must be all in all. When the alphabet is used, it must be used throughout. There is no advantage in dividing proper names from subjects, as is so often done, particularly in foreign indexes. Another objectionable practice frequently adopted in the indexes of periodical publications is to keep together the [pg 135] entries under the separate headings used in the journal itself, and thus to have a number of distinct alphabets under different headings. ”

“ For in the same manner as numbers are considered as powers of 10, so their indices, whether integral or decimal, being, in fact, numbers, may again be regarded as powers of 10; and their secondary indices, or logarithmic logarithms, may be laid down as logometric intervals, to which other logometric intervals may be added or subtracted mechanically, so as to present to view any multiples or aliquot part of a logarithm, and consequently any powers whatever of the number to which that logarithm is index ”

“ The RPC-4000 computer had a really modern facility called an index register. It allowed the programmer to write a program loop that used an indexed instruction inside; each time through, the number in the index register was added to the address of that instruction, so it would refer to the next datum in a series. He had only to increment the index register each time through. Mel never used it. ”

“ In indexes set with leaders, if the page numbers will not fit in the leader line, the first number only is set in that line and the other numbers are overrun. If the entry makes three or more lines and the last line of figures is not full, do not use a period at the end.
(For examples of item indentions in a reading column of indexes set with leaders, see index in this Manual.)
15.24.
Overrun page numbers are indented 31⁄2 ems in measures not over 20 picas and 7 ems in wider measures, more than one line being used if necessary. ”

“ After this date, however, the Index continued to grow, and it extended to thirty-two folio volumes, all written by Baillet's own hand."
S knowledge increases and books and magazines gather in number, the need for many indexes becomes daily more evident. We often are certain that something has been written on a subject in which we are interested, but in vain we seek for a clue to it. ”

“ When we get things validated, remind to ping User:Phe, and we will ask him to run his index conversion tool through and make the page number links active to the respective chapters/pages.
With the index, it is worthwhile adding invisible A-Z {{anchor}}s at each heading stage, and then we can add something like {{TOC}} or one of the other TOC templates into the notes section of the Index,to provide section links. I would also suggest that we don't use multiple columns in the index, and instead just do a singular column. ”

“ Every work should have one index to the whole set, and not an index to each volume.
An index to each volume of a set is convenient if a general amalgamated index to the whole set is given as well; but a work with several indexes and no general one is most inconvenient and irritating, while to have both seems extravagant. If, however, the author or publisher is willing to present both, it is not for the user of the book to complain.
2. Indexes to be arranged in alphabetical order, proper names and subjects being united in one alphabet. ”

“ One important point connected with indexes to catalogues is to add the date of the book after the name of the author, so that the seeker may know whether the book is old or new.
An index ought not to supersede the table of contents, as this is often useful for those who cannot find what they want [pg 126] in the index, from having forgotten the point of the heading under which it would most likely appear in the alphabet.
In the year 1900 there was a controversy in The Times on a proposed subject index to the catalogue of the library of the British Museum. ”

“ In the case of a small index there is little difficulty with material, for it can be arranged at once into first letters, and when the table is cleared of the slips these can be placed in the pages of an ordinary book to keep them distinct, and can then be sorted in perfect alphabet and pasted down. In the case of a large index it will be necessary to place the slips in a safer place. ”

“ The requirements of an index and the proportions of its several parts are the two principal questions to be considered. Under the first head it may be observed that the index of a company upon a large scale should afford as much abstract information as possible. Those who refer to it do so with different views, for the objects of their inquiry must necessarily vary with their respective duties. It is therefore desirable that the index should be constructed with a view to provide for the wants of each person, so far, at least, as to enable him to obtain information in the most direct way ”

“ Cards of a uniform size, kept in trays or boxes, are very convenient for the purpose of making an ever-growing index. You can make a general index in one alphabet, and when you have any special subject on hand, you can choose out the particular cards connected with that subject, and arrange them in a distinct alphabet. When the distinct alphabet is no longer required, the cards can be rearranged in the general alphabet. Cards are unquestionably the most convenient for an index that is ever changing in volume and in form. Rearrangement can be made without the trouble of re-writing the entries. ”

“ CHAPTER V. Different Classes of Indexes.
"Of all your talents you are a most amazing man at Indexes. What a flag too, do you hang out at the stern! You must certainly persuade people that the book overflows with matter, which (to speak the truth) is but thinly spread. But I know all this is fair in trade, and you have a right to expect that the publick should purchase freely when you reduce the whole book into an epitome for their benefit; I shall read the index with pleasure."—William Clarke to William Bowyer, Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, vol. ”

“ As already stated on a previous page, it is most important to index the articles in periodicals afresh, and not always to follow the heading of the original. This is of course more particularly the case in respect to newspapers, where the headings [pg 224] are drawn up to catch the reader's eye. The same rule may be insisted on in respect to all indexing, and this is so important that the restatement of it may well conclude this little volume.
In making a general index of several volumes, always index the volumes afresh, and do not be contented with using what has been done before. ”

“ The amazing thing is that many persons unconnected with one another should be found to do the same ridiculous work, and suppose that by any possibility it could be of use to a single human being. But what is even more astounding is to find intelligent editors passing such useless rubbish and wasting good type and paper upon it.
Another prominent blunder in indexing periodicals is to follow in the index the divisions of the paper. In an alphabetical index there should be no classification, but the alphabet should be followed throughout. ”

“ Notes and Queries, 5th S., xii. 511.
There is one project of the Index Society which has never been undertaken, but which is still wanted as much as ever—viz. a general or universal index. Some think this to be an impossibility, and that to attempt its preparation is a waste of time. Those who hold this opinion have not sufficient faith in the simplicity and usefulness of the alphabet. [pg 215] Every one has notes and references of some kind, which are useless if kept unarranged, but, if sorted into alphabetical order, become valuable. ”

“ To serve its purpose well, an index to a book must be compiled with care, the references being placed under the heading that the reader is most likely to seek. An index should be one and indivisible, and not broken up into several alphabets; thus every work, whether in one or more volumes, ought to have its complete index. ”

“ CHAPTER II. Amusing and Satirical Indexes.
"It will thus often happen that the controversialist states his case first in the title-page; he then gives it at greater length in the introduction; again perhaps in a preface; a third time in an analytical form through means of a table of contents; after all this skirmishing he brings up his heavy columns in the body of the book; and if he be very skilfull he may let fly a few Parthian arrows from the index."—J. Hill Burton's Book-Hunter.
NE of the last things the genuine indexer thinks of is to make his work amusing ”

“ The fact is you cannot be sure of preserving the cuttings or slips, if very numerous; they are almost certain to get mixed or lost, or elude you somehow. My remedy is this. I now take cheap notepaper and write one entry only on each leaf. Having compiled my index thus from A to Z, I arrange my slips and manipulate them as I would a pack of cards, although shuffling only for the purpose of getting the arrangement of the letters right. Thus I save myself all the labour and trouble of pasting or laying down the slips in analytical order. ”

“ Poole. In an article on "The [pg 60] Indexing of Periodicals" in the Index to the Periodical Literature of the World for 1892, she gives a remarkable series of instances of absurd entries. Some of these are due to the vicious habit of trying to save trouble by cutting up the lists of contents, and repeating the entries under different headings. Miss Hetherington's examples are well worth repeating; but as bad indexing is the rule, it is scarcely worth while to gibbet any one magazine, as most of them are equally bad. ”

“ And I also talked to you about my deannotated work being the foundation of an annotated work; how else would you do that but by copying the partially-complete text into a second index? We're mounting almost everything into an index these days, aren't we? I'm not aware of any "second index" (more specifically - a second, derivative specific, proofreading enabling, Index: namespace page) playing a role in any of this; specifically, being created in addition to the first Index: with both pointing to same series of scans within the same single source file on Commons. ”

“ In an economical respect, however, the latter is a more valuable addition to a book than an analysis of its contents, which are in a manner evident from the heads of chapters or sections; whereas an index tends to save time and labour, that are often unnecessarily wasted in searching for particular passages. Hence a large, ponderous volume, without an alphabetical index, may be aptly compared with an extensive street, or town, the houses of which are not provided with numbers. ”