Handbook of Indexing Techniques 5th Edition - Linda K. Fetters

Handbook of Indexing Techniques: A Guide For Beginning Indexers
Linda Fetters
Information Today Publishing
Copyright Date: March 4th 2013
978-1573874618

The amazon.com blurb:

Linda Fetters' popular Handbook of Indexing Techniques is now available for the first time from Information Today, Inc. in a significantly updated fifth edition that will be welcomed by new, aspiring, and occasional indexers and anyone who teaches indexing.
As in earlier releases, the fifth edition includes clear explanations of indexing techniques along with many helpful examples. In addition to its easy-to-follow "how-to" coverage, you'll find updated information about indexing seminars and training programs, professional organizations, and indexing standards. Chapter 8, "Electronic Documents," has been expanded to include basic coverage of embedded indexing, Cambridge University Press indexing, XML indexing, ebook indexing, web indexing, and taxonomies. And, for the first time, the book's bibliographic references a rich source of suggestions for further reading appear in two separate appendixes, one organized alphabetically and the other by topic.

I said in my last post about this book that I wanted to buy it. Well, I did, and there are some parts of the book that are absolutely wonderful:

1. The end of chapter bibliographies.
   Extremely helpful if you're looking for more information on a particular topic.
2. Chapter 8, the chapter on indexing electronic documents.
   It gives clear explanations of the various aspects of indexing for websites, e-books and embedded indexing.
3. Two forms of bibliography, as mentioned in the blurb.
   As I said about the end of chapter bibliographies, these are one of the best resources in the book.

As the subtitle for the Handbook of Indexing Techniques notes, the book is designed as a "Guide For Beginning Indexers" and as such, I'd say it might just be the book I'd recommend first. The style is clear and easy to read and the book covers just about everything you need to get started, ranging from discussions of the various educational options out there to different methods of indexing (dedicated software such as Macrex or Cindex, the indexing modules in programs such as Word, and even the method that gave us the "Index Card").

Then there's actually creating the index. The Handbook of Indexing Techniques covers that too, with many a reference to the other stand-by reference books out there, including Mulvaney's Indexing Books Second Edition and Indexing From A-Z Second Edition by Hans Wellisch.