Last week I tried to puzzle my way through the concept of editing the index while the entries are being created, as opposed to saving most of the editing for the end of the indexing process. As I wrote, some indexers say that they save a lot of time by working like this, which I accept in principle while finding that it can be difficult to implement. 

Coincidentally (I promise I hadn’t recently checked the conference line-up), the first speaker at the Indexing Society of Canada’s conference in Ottawa last week was Anne Fifer, with a presentation titled “Edit Your Index Without Pain.” I did find Anne’s talk helpful for clearing up some of my questions and misconceptions, so I am going to revisit the topic with some of Anne’s insights. I thought you might find it helpful too.

First, to set expectations, editing is still required at the end of the indexing process. It is not possible to eliminate editing entirely, but the amount can be reduced. Anne said that often she just needs a day for the final edit. 

Anne’s approach seems to be two-fold. The first part is to use the full capabilities of her indexing software to streamline indexing. Specifically, extensively using labels to highlight entries that need different sorts of editing or extra attention, so that these are easy to find later on. Anne also discussed custom dictionaries for accurate spell check, which I can see to be helpful if one is working on a lot of medical indexes like Anne does, but I don’t really see the benefit for books that lack such specialized terminology. I don’t see myself making custom dictionaries for the books I typically index.

The second part to Anne’s approach is to lay the necessary groundwork for the index at the start. Part of this is making sure that all necessary resources are in easy reach, which is a good reminder that the details of our work environment can make a difference. The largest component is to establish the index structure from the start, which Fred Leise discussed in more detail in his talk (Fred also has an article in The Indexer 34(4)and has presented a webinar with ASI on his approach to structure, if you want to learn more). The benefit of this is that once established, the structure does not need much editing later on, if at all. It also provides the framework to slot entries within as one works through the text. Thinking through the structure upfront was my biggest takeaway from the conference, and something I will be adding to my indexing practice going forward.

Anne also discussed editing in small increments. Part of this is doing a small edit at the end of each day for a specific list of common issues that she looks for. Part of this is also isolating and editing in batches the previously labeled entries. This means that a lot of spelling, formatting, or other common issues are already dealt with by the time Anne reaches the final edit. As I wrote last week, I find it difficult to focus on editing at the end of the day, but I like the idea of being self-aware of issues I commonly need to fix and of proactively fixing them in batches. This could also be done at the start of the day, for example, if I don’t want to do it at the end.

All told, I think Anne has some practical tips to make editing easier. I hoped you learned something too, and are able to become more efficient in your indexing.