A Long & Winding Road

Before I started indexing books, I took an indexing & abstracting course during library school (GSLIS), which taught me the basics. Not long after completing that course, I accepted my first book indexing job in December 2012, and in March 2013 I accepted a full-time position as an Indexing Librarian at the National Security Archive — indexing and abstracting declassified documents for an online database.

The GSLIS course was a good start, but it didn’t take long for me to realize that I wanted a more targeted and in-depth study, specifically on book indexing. I also wanted something tangible to show for those efforts. So, I started ASI’s certification program (and nearly finished it) back in 2016.

The American Society for Indexing has a training program consisting of four modules (or courses) that essentially teach a person the fundamentals of how to produce a professional index.

One of the conditions of the ASI training program is that it must be finished within four years of the start date.

This time restriction is very reasonable, especially since the phrase “use it or lose it” applies to most things and indexing is one of them…if you’re not practicing the fundamentals you learn in the coursework regularly, that knowledge acquired through the training program goes down the drain. Important little details that determine the quality and utility of an index are lost and forgotten.

In 2016, when I first started the ASI training coursework, which is divided into four modules, I was indexing books as a side job while working full-time as a database indexer/abstracter. By the end of 2019, I had completed the first three modules, but, in January 2020, I changed full-time jobs; the increased workload took its toll, and I timed out on the ASI training program.

That this had remained an unfinished business bothered me, and finally last year, in 2021, I quickly took up the training program again — from the beginning. The review of indexing fundamentals was very useful, and earlier this year, I submitted the final project of the fourth and final module: the index to a full-length book.

So finally, in September 2022, I received word that I’d passed the fourth and final exam! There was an issue with the shipping, so the certificate was delayed by several months, which is why I am publishing this post now rather than two months ago.

The Final Project: A Book Index

The conditions were that the book had to be freely available for download online, fall within a specific page range, and not have a pre-existing subject index. Combine those criteria and then add my own — that it had to fall within my own interests — and it was a somewhat tricky task but finally I did find this book:

The index can be found on my website, I have uploaded it to the Indexing Services page, where readers will also find a description of services, project cost and how it is calculated, and a partial list of books I have indexed.

It was a complicated book to index because of its three sections with three different kinds of material:

• the first section was a historical narrative;

• the second section was composed of extracts from al-Ḥuṣrī’s memoirs;

• and the third section was the translation of documents from the time of the events, including speeches, telegrams, and newspaper articles.

I knew the grader would pay close attention to my decision-making and provide more in-depth feedback than I would get in any other scenario, so I was excited to have this opportunity to hone my skills.

Had this been a project for an actual client, questions such as how dense the index should be and who the preferred target audience is, would have been directed to the client. Any other specifications that the client wanted could be discussed, as well.

ASI’s training program provides a solid book indexing foundation and is useful even if an indexer has some experience. The attention to fundamentals and feedback provided by graders is great encouragement; it has definitely helped me refine and develop my skills. ASI’s network of indexers and online webinars also provides a great resource that picks up where the training program leaves off.

My Next Big Goal?

Become a Certified Indexer through the Institute of Certified Indexers (ICI):