Ask the Indexers: continuity and change For this blog post, we asked our panel of experienced indexers: since you started indexing, what has changed in the profession and what has stayed the same? Chr

In our latest blog post, we asked our panel of expert indexers what has changed in the profession, and what has stayed the same #IndexSky buff.ly/6JN6aux

Veronal - one of Agatha Christie's favourites I think.

There wasn't any paracetamol or ibuprofen back then. It was that, alcohol, or morphine, which was illegal by WWI.

Stony Stratford

At our April coffee morning, seventeen SI members, from retired to student indexers, met to discuss what we say when we talk among ourselves about indexing.

I did the index and I think the book covers 63 churches (give or take).

I must recommend this brilliant book to anyone interested in the churches of Norwich and their history. Recently published, large format, loads of photos, maps etc, 500 pages, surprisingly a very reasonable price on line.

Wingate Brass Slaidburn March (William Rimmer) Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

One of my favourite marches Source: YouTube share.google/4yEWAyWhJjXP...

Super old index here. I am not sure we can or should do it like that these days but all the same.

A photo of a page from "Berlioz and the Romantic Century" by Jacques Barzun, showing the "Index to Misconceptions about Berlioz and to Their Corrections," including detailed page listings for: BERLIOZ generally misknown 1. His ACCURACY and truthfulness in musical and personal affairs 2. His thorough understanding of BEETHOVEN See also General Index: Beethoven, B. his disciple 3. His appreciation of CHAMBER MUSIC 4. His CHARACTER AND INTELLECT worthy of uncommon respect 5. His gift for COMPOSING spontaneous as well as controlled 6. His grand CONCEPTIONS fully carried out 7. His CONDUCTING, like that required for his works, precise not volcanic 8. His COSMOPOLITAN mind, unbound by chauvinism, "French ideas," or ignorance of foreign tongues 9. His knowledge of, and sound views upon, COUNTERPOINT 10. His integrity as a CRITIC and acceptance of others' CRITICISM of himself

11. His DOMESTIC LIFE marked by affection and a sense of responsibility 12. His music not invariably FANTASTIC 13. His FOLLOWING numerous, though not doctrinaire 14. His sense of FORM acute and inventive 15. His lifelong capacity for FRIENDSHIP 16. His frequent use and reasoned estimate of FUGUE 17. His travesty in the incomplete GERMAN EDITION 18. His GRATITUDE to List, Paganini, and other admirers 19. His HARMONY subtle and expressive 20. His first symphony not about HARRIET SMITHSON 21. His INFLUENCE on the course of music unmistakable 22. His INVENTIVENESS neither anarchical nor ignorant 23. His use of LARGE ORCHESTRAS not extravagant or habitual 24. His music intelligible apart from any LITERARY IDEAS

25. His LOVE OF MUSIC not limited to his own works 26. His creation of a characteristic MELODY 27. His MEMOIRS reliable about himself and his times 28. His life a MONUMENT OF COMPLETENESS 29. His admiration for MOZART, based on a real affinity 30. His hatred of NOISE, and sparing use of timpani and brass 31. His ORCHESTRAL EFFECTS meaningful and structural, not laid on 32. His knowledge of PIANO MUSIC and sound judgment of PIANISTS 33. His grasp of POLITICS, ECONOMICS, and PHILOSOPHY 34. His PRACTICALITY in adjusting to available means 35. His early rejection of PROGRAM and his composing of movements before choosing titles 36. His significance RECOGNIZED BY HIS PEERS in his lifetime and since 37. His REFUSAL TO TAMPER with masterpieces of music and his denunciation of tinkers 38. His life and his works marked by true RELIGIOUS FEELING 39. His mature style no REPUDIATION OF ROMANTICISM

40. His uncommon SANITY (even while composing LÉLIO) 41. His career free of SELF-SEEKING AND VINDICTIVENESS 42. His STATEMENTS OF BELIEF about his art explicit and consistent from early youth to maturity 43. His disbelief in music's power to TELL STORIES AND PAINT PICTURES 44. His poised TEMPERAMENT, Dionysiac and Apollonian 45. His many-sided musical TRADITION 46. His long and thorough TRAINING, supplemented by self-discipline 47. His preference for calm and contemplative subjects to the VIOLENT AND BLOODCURDLING 48. His impeccable behavior toward WAGNER 49. His passion or "romanticism," after adolescence, never WILD 50. His WILL POWER and singleness of purpose

I guess every biographer becomes obsessed with setting the record straight about their subject, but I have never seen a book include a detailed "Index to Misconceptions" like this!

The use of all-caps makes it even more hilarious.

from "Berlioz and the Romantic Century" by Jacques Barzun (1950)

@indexers.bsky.social has a page for authors www.indexers.org.uk/about-indexi... and I've just updated my blog post with new links. Follow your publisher's guidance. Any questions, just ask.

Keep an eye on the indexes for us please!

Cool! Someone went to check if they were in a book by looking at the index.

Same here and we live as far from the sea as it is possible to get in England. We do have skylarks now.

Look, a reader uses and index and finds what they were looking for.

For reasons I can no longer remember we had one of the Boardman bikes on display at Bournemouth University as an object of wonder.

I hope it goes well. The results are awesome!

I got your Wikipedia page as my top return. This one might explain how to do it better www.cnet.com/tech/service...

You need to tell it you only want the web search - see this tedium.co/2024/05/17/g...

I'm in the UK. May be different elsewhere.

I had full general anaesthetic for both of mine. The surgeon took one look at me and suggested it.

And you can use your professional index to promote your book before it comes out!

Often a good idea to promote your non-fiction book with a glimpse of the index, especially if it is a good one. Not one of mine I have to say.

Stick any iceblocks in the freezer into the fridge before defrosting the freezer.

Illustration of a hillfort with overlaid text that says 'New Book'

NEW BOOK: 'Rhynie, A Powerful Place of Pictland'

We are thrilled to announce the release of our book by Professor Gordon Noble FSAScot, a nationally important monograph that brings together 10 years of research which has transformed our understanding of the Picts: www.socantscot.org/uncategorize...

I can't find anything in the Cambridge Elements page for authors that even suggests an index might be an option. That's a shame.

If they aren't commonly known and you have used the 3 part name at least once in the text, then either the nomen/gentile or cognomen and check the Oxford Classical Dictionary, who probably use the nomen/gentile. If it looks sensible, that's fine.

Someone suggested I use AI to write the index of my book (which will be out next year!).
Um, no. Never. Why would I work so hard on something for years before AI and then give it a lazy (& inaccurate) index?
Also proud to say I wouldn’t know how to start using AI and I don’t want to.

Oh my I didn't realise there was a Wikipedia for that book. @djbduncan.bsky.social @baindex.org

The Channon diaries are awesome in the completeness of the indexing of names. Some of the sorting is a bit odd but you get there and Winston Churchill is under the technically correct Spencer-Churchill which could confuse some readers.