Information Access: Indexing & Abstracting
The Big Idea
In the Information Science field, indexing and abstracting are more alike than they might first appear:
The purpose of abstracting is to provide a brief and objective overview of a document — be it a book or something else — in which the abstracter will describe the content and scope of the document. These abstracts should give readers enough information so that they can determine whether or not they want to read the whole document.
Side note: there are informative abstracts & there are indicative (aka descriptive) abstracts.
An informative abstract contains important statements or facts reported in a document, including findings, conclusions and recommendations.
An indicative abstract describes the general content of the document (i.e., it indicates what the document is about without repeating the information).
The purpose of indexing is to provide a map or guide to the document at hand, in which the indexer will identify topics and ideas that are discussed and create a logical listing of those themes, that readers can easily refer to and quickly find what they are looking for in the text.
Both indexing and abstracting require document-subject analysis and identification of main ideas and themes.
Both indexing and abstracting involve determining what information will be useful to readers:
in indexing, what does the author talk about, what are the key concepts, and what will the reader want to look for in the text;
and in abstracting, what does the author talk about, what are the key concepts or research results, and what will the reader be interested in reading about.
More Resources about Indexing & Abstracting
…about Indexing
Stauber, D.M. Facing the Text: Content and Structure in Book Indexing. Eugene, OR: Cedar Row Press, 2004
Mulvany, N.C. Indexing Books. 2nd edition. The University of Chicago Press, 2005.
Ullstrom, S. Book Indexing: A Step-by-Step Guide. Edmonton: Anthimus Press, 2023.
…about Abstracting
Lancaster, F.W. Indexing and Abstracting in Theory and Practice. 3rd edition. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, 2003.
