book reviews - the indexer · book reviews edited by philip bradley indexing and indexes indexing...

Book reviews

edited by Philip Bradley

Indexing and indexes

Indexing legal materials, edited by

Elizabeth M. Moys and others.

London: Society of Indexers,

1993. 86 pp. 21 cm. Illus,

indexes. isbn 1-871577-14-4

(pbk): £8.00 (incl p. & p.); (over

seas £9.00 or $18.00, airmail

£10.50 or $21.00). (Society of

Indexers occasional papers on

indexing, 2.) (Available from

Sales Manager, Society of

Indexers, 26 Draycot Road,

London Ell 2NX.)

This, the second in a planned

series of Occasional Papers pub

lished by the Society of Indexers, is

intended to contribute to raising

standards of indexing in the legal

field by providing a practical guide

for indexers called on to work with

any type of law text.

It contains fascinating examples

of early indexes of law books and

goes on to explain the differences

between various types of law book,

the structure and design of indexes,

selecting and analysing subjects,

indexing terms, the form of entries

and references, indexing EC materi

als and tables of cases and statutes.

It concludes with a detailed bibli

ography and, as is to be expected

from a Wheatley Medal winner, a

faultless index. Elizabeth Moys and

her co-editors make the most

important point that indexes to law

books are crucial to the busy legal

practitioner. Most law books are

seldom read through, but often

referred to: their users demand

total accuracy, immediate accessi

bility and utter comprehensiveness

from their indexes, and will com

plain loudly if these requirements

are not fulfilled.

As a law indexer, I was particu

larly heartened to read the editors'

view that BS 3700 standards are

not tablets of stone and that the

selection of subjects must eventu

ally be a matter for the judgment

of the indexer. This recognition of

the creative and subjective element,

even in preparing an index for a

highly technical reference book,

may help to assuage the inevitable

loneliness of the long-distance law

indexer. If the principles discussed

in this book are applied, then the

general aim of the legal indexer—

to direct the attention of the

lawyers to the most likely sources

of information that they need—is

far more likely to succeed. The

book is very detailed, accurate and

exhaustive. It is set to complement

Hewitt and BanwelPs A Practical

guide to law indexing, now out of

print, as the new authorized ver

sion of the law indexer's Bible.

Robert Spicer

barrister

British librarianship and information

work 1986-1990. Vol. 2: Special

libraries, materials and processes,

edited by David W. Bromley and

Angela M. Allott. London:

Library Association Publishing,

1993. x, 353 pp. 24 cm. Index.

isbn 1-85604-001-1 (cased):

£65.00 (£52.00 to LA members).

Indexing, providing access to infor

mation: looking back, looking

ahead. The Proceedings of the

25th Annual Meeting of the

American Society of Indexers,

[Alexandria, VA, May 20-22,

1993]. Nancy C. Mulvany, edi

tor. Port Aransas, Texas:

American Society of Indexers,

1993. v, 161 pp. 28 cm. Index.

isbn 0-936547-19-7 (pbk): $35.00

($30.00 to ASI members).

Subject indexing: an introductory

guide, by Trudi Bellardo for

Special Libraries Association.

Washington, DC: Special

Libraries Association, 1991.

72 pp. 28 cm. Bibliog, index.

Spiral bound: $75.00 ($60.00 to

SLA members). (A self-study

program.)

British librarianship and informa

tion work, 1986-1990 follows the

pattern set by the last quinquennial

issue, volume one covering general

libraries and the profession gener

ally, and volume two, reviewed

here, covering special libraries,

materials and processes. Three

chapter headings have disappeared:

Microforms, Stock provision, and

Information science. Their sub

stance has been dispersed, as rele

vant, into other chapters, the last

primarily under New technology.

The chapter on indexing and

abstracting, by K. G. B. Bakewell

and Glyn Rowland, records some

of the salient publications:

Wellisch's bibliographies (published

in The Indexer), British standards,

new editions of thesauri, and a

selection of outstanding indexes.

Wheatley medallists are named,

and also recipients of the Carey

Award. Discussions of the tech

niques of indexing, including

computer-aided indexing, and the

problems presented by particular

subjects and media are noted.

There is also a list of abstracting

and indexing services that made

their appearance during the quin

quennium. The chapter is supple

mented by 91 references.

68 The Indexer Vol. 19 No. 1 April 1994

A surprising fact noted by

Geoffrey Hamilton in his chapter

on Newspapers and newspaper

libraries is the very large number of

indexing projects for local news

papers arising from the increased

use of newspapers for research. He

says that the British Library

Newspaper Library is 'aware of

more than a thousand local news

paper indexes'. The long and

detailed index to the volume itself

invites reference and exploration.

The past, the present and the

future of providing access to infor

mation through indexing were

encompassed by the American

Society of Indexers' 25th annual

meeting. The present, which in

these days of rapid technological

change is characterized by an

unstable process of discarding the

recent and experimenting with the

new, is here represented by descrip

tions of four large indexing

services.

Enid L. Zafran and Coleen

MacKay tell how a large publish

ing house, the Bureau of National

Affairs, with a staff of 40 respon

sible for the indexing of current-

awareness services and permanent

databases, replaced its mainframe

computer with individual personal

computers and achieved greater

economy and efficiency and also

more flexible working hours. Sarah

Mulholland reports that the

BOOK REVIEWS

American Psychological Associ

ation, responsible for indexing the

world's literature in psychology

and related disciplines, is aware of

the need to change its methods to

suit new users. It is replacing all its

hardware and software and supple

menting its provision for Boolean-

logic search with natural-language

search facilities. Current use of

automation to support both clerical

and intellectual activities of index

ers is recorded by Gail M. Hodge,

who concludes her survey by giving

details of the use of computers in

maintaining the BIOSIS database.

The feasibility of a new system is

now being tested at the National

Library of Medicine, where the

existing system of coordinate

indexing applied according to

printed rules for the MEDLINE

database is being compared with

a system—MedlnDex—that com

bines factual and procedural

knowledge and so helps the indexer

with warnings and suggestions at

specific places in the MeSH list. It

is described by the project's leader,

Suzanne Humphrey.

Standards for indexing as they at

present exist are considered by

three contributors. James D.

Anderson points out that standards

for indexing are based on expert

opinion, but not on research, and

suggests that they should be used

in the spirit in which they are

issued, that is, as guides rather

than ordinances. He tells how the

NISO (National Information

Standards Organization) standard

is being prepared, and suggests that

much that is published merits only

automatic and not human index

ing. Janet Shuter considers that

the present system of standards

revision is inadequate, most impor

tantly because it fails to rethink

criteria. She offers her own

'systematized description of the

way to create a standard' (p. 84).

Hazel Bell has no use for standards

in indexing imaginative literature.

One concedes that standards lack

'warmth and emotion' (p. 116)

but must find her interpretation

of them somewhat tendentious.

Elizabeth Wallis, speaking of

indexing training and accreditation

in the UK, sees the Society of

Indexers' training course, based on

the British standard BS3700, as

covering the basic theory of in

dexing, and running parallel to

the development of National

Vocational Qualifications. Garry

Cousins reports that in Australia,

where population, publishing and

databases are concentrated in three

locations, the best means of train

ing and recognition of indexing

skill is actively being sought.

Ira Kleinberg, who has been

researching 'information system

usability' and 'index usability' con

cludes that users are often baffled

by the structure and presentation

of back-of-the-book indexes and by

the enormous variation between

indexers' and searchers' vocabu

lary. That is also the opinion of

Elizabeth D. Liddy and Corinne

L. Jorgensen, whose report on

research on the use of hard-copy

printed indexes stresses, among

other things, the importance of for

mat. They conclude that 'there are

indications that several of the most

important assumptions upon which

indexers base their work may, in

fact, be incorrect' (p. 134).

But what of the format of infor

mation itself? T. G. McFadden

reminds us that nearly half the

books published since 1850 are dis

integrating because of the paper on

which they are printed. Their

replacement by more durable sub

stances, and also the newer forms

of primary publication—or of cre

ation with publication only on

demand—call for new methods of

cataloguing and subject indexing.

There is a need, as Christopher

Locke also points out (p. 25), to

distinguish between the kinds of

data stored in Internet and other

large computer-interconnected sys

tems, and to index them appropri

ately.

Certainly the collection of papers

read to this 25th Conference of the

American Society of Indexers offers

The Indexer Vol. 19 No. 1 April 1994 69

no complacent view of the present

situation. Can there be one coher

ent view of indexing, or should

book indexers and data-base index-

ers agree to differ?

The index to the collection is

experimental, as the editor explains

in a long prefatory note. Each con

tributor was asked to produce

entries for his or her paper without

knowledge of the content of the

whole book and with no more spe

cific page-reference possible than

that of the whole article. Chastened

though I am by the numerous

assertions in the preceding papers

that indexers know very little about

indexing, I venture to judge that,

whatever its value as an experi

ment, as an index it is not entirely

satisfactory.

Subject indexing: an introductory

guide forms part of an instruction

course for independent study, upon

completion of which the Special

Libraries Association will award a

Continuing Education Credit.

The workbook does not presume

any prior knowledge of indexing or

subject cataloguing. It is offered as

an introduction to basic indexing

principles that can be used to create

subject indexes in any medium,

whether computer-based or paper-

based, to documents in a variety of

media.

Commonsense instruction on

basic indexing decisions, such as

the type of index required, selection

of concepts to be indexed and their

restatement as index entries, the

use of thesauri, and alphabetical

arrangement, is followed in each

section by an exercise, with recom

mended answers.

In such a brief compendium

there must necessarily be omissions;

for example, the need to make

cross-references and to update

thesauri is noted, but no guidance

is given on when and how to make

the required entries and adjust

ments. The student is expected to

supplement the instruction given in

this manual by further study, for

which a bibliography of 45 titles,

mostly American, is appended. The

BOOK REVIEWS

lone student is also admonished to

take advantage of any accessible

seminars and classes. With such

supplements, this friendly and

succinct guide will give the novice

indexer a good foundation for

subject indexing.

Mary Piggott

formerly of School of Library,

Archive and Information Studies,

University of London

Subject analysis and indexing: theo

retical foundation and practical

advice. Robert Fugmann.

Frankfurt/Main: INDEKS Verlag,

1993. xvi 252 pp. 23 cm. Illus,

index, isbn 3-88672-500-6; issn

0944-8152 (pbk): DM42.80

($25.00). (Textbooks for knowl

edge organization, vol. 1.)

It is interesting to ponder the

sub-title of this volume. There is an

abundance of 'theoretical founda

tion' but the 'practical advice' is

perhaps a little harder to distil. Dr

Fugmann, whose contribution to

the field of information science

is considerable, was a Visiting

Professor in the School of Library

and Information Science at Indiana

University in the summer of 1992,

and the present book consists of a

series of lectures given at that time

on indexing and abstracting. 'Most

textbooks in [sic] indexing concen

trate on indexing principles and

practice, the nature and types of

indexes, methods and procedures

of indexing. In contrast, Dr

Fugmann's lectures examine the

broader view of indexing as related

to information supply and the sur

vival power of information sys

tems. In addition, it delves into the

unresolved issues that are targets of

current research and debate, i.e.

inverse relationship between preci

sion and recall, consistency versus

predictability as a measurement of

quality of indexing, etc' {Foreword).

Whilst the major part of the

book deals with indexing in its

wider context there is an interesting

and useful section on book index

ing—mainly concerned with the

theoretical basis on which the index

to the volume itself is constructed.

This is in three parts: (1) a

Systematic Index which displays

the subject headings in a classified,

hierarchical order based on the

author's own scheme for the book;

(2) a Basic Index which lists the

subject headings in alphabetical

order (and deals simply with main

headings); (3) the Alphabetical

Index, which is the conventional

index but lacks cross-references

since relationships between subjects

are shown in the hierarchical

Systematic Index. It is not possible

here to describe this experimental

index as fully as it deserves—and

in any case only one page of the

Alphabetical Index is provided, the

rest being 'available from the pub

lisher at cost price on a floppy

disk'. Suffice it to observe that the

locators in the indexes lead either

to the numbered paragraphs (not

pages) of the text or to the num

bered sections of the classified

Systematic Index—or to both. 'The

index to this book is intended to

present some advanced conceptual

and technological devices which a

reader may find useful for an

indexing project of his or her own.

They are only rarely, if at all,

encountered in indexing practice,

although they are not entirely new.'


The book is a rewarding study in

which the author rehearses some of

his evidently firmly-held opinions,

but it has to be said that it requires

a certain amount of perseverance.

Readers with a lively interest in

information theory will not be put

off by sentences such as 'the rela

tion path ramification as caused by

the pre-coordination of ubiquitous

concepts exists only in the virtual

state' because they will have care

fully digested all that went before,

but the author's use of self-invented

technical terms does add a further

difficulty. For instance, 'mandatory

indexing' is indexing according to

what the author describes as

'Cutter's rule', by which he means

using the most specific heading

that will contain the subject (only

one of Cutter's rules!)

Most indexers will surely agree

with Dr Fugmann that 'it is there

fore an undertaking without

prospects of success to try to mech

anize indexing and abstracting to

that degree of quality which can be

achieved by the careful and knowl

edgeable human, when properly

assisted by adequate technology'.

Geoffrey Dixon

formerly Craigie College of

Education

European Legal Journals Index.

Edited by John Jeffries and

others. Hebden Bridge, W. Yorks:

Legal Information Resources

Ltd. Published monthly. First

issue Jan, 1993. issn 0969-0840.

Annual subscription: bound vol

ume service £300.00, parts only

service £250.00. (Available from

Legal Information Resources

Ltd., 1 New Road, Mytholmroyd.

Hebden Bridge, W. Yorks HX7

5DZ.)

It is always interesting to see the

beginnings of anything—to con

sider the area to be covered by the

new publication and its purposes,

and how far it seems likely to

achieve its aims. The European

Legal Journals Index gathers infor

mation from some 300 legal jour-

BOOK REVIEWS

nals covering articles, legislation

and cases. As its name implies, dis

tinguishing it from the Legal

Journals Index, it contains specific

E. C. material from titles published

in English (or mainly in English).

This first issue promises to be

useful to those involved in

European matters of a legal or

semilegal nature, and aims to give

ready access to the salient points

where topical issues are concerned.

It is noted that it is possible to run

the databases on the readers' com

puters for inhouse information,

and that searches of the databases

can be made on demand.

The Index is divided into five

parts—a Subject Index, an Author

Index, a-Case Index, a Legislation

Index, and a Book Review Index.

The Subject Index is, of course, by

far the longest index, and should

give a speedy entry into the source

of the information that is needed.

But is the vital word always

given prominence? For example,

why not, 'Employment, con

ditions of, 'Establishment, freedom

of, 'Expression, freedom of,

information, freedom of? Ought

not the full name of an organiza

tion be indexed, and the initials

used only to refer to the fuller

entry, e.g. GATT, UNCTAD,

UNESCO? The greatest deficiency

seems to be in the 'see' references.

Some are there, e.g. 'Bargaining,

see Collective Bargaining', 'Salary,

see Remuneration', 'Lawyers, see

Legal Profession', but many refer

ences could not be found. In any

case, there would be no need to

'see' the adjoining item, (Diseases,

Diseases and Disorders), (Pay As

You Earn, PAYE), (Leave of

Absence, Leave)—even if the latter

references were there in the first

place!

One wonders whether the divi

sions within the Legislation Index

are the most apt. The first division

is 'British Isles'—but why not

'United Kingdom' as indeed fore

shadowed on page v of the

'Contents'. The Commission

Decision/Recommendation/Regula

tion and the Council Directives

seem of sufficient importance to

merit a division of their own leav

ing 'Other European Countries' to

look after the remainder. It could

also be argued that all the interna

tional conventions might be

brought together. There is a wealth

of detail in the Index which the

reader will find helpful, but access

to it could be improved.

Britton Goudie

freelance indexer

Thesauri

Thesauri for museum documenta

tion. The Proceedings of a work

shop held at the Science Museum,

London 24 February 1992. The

Museum Documentation Associ

ation Terminology Working

Group. Cambridge: Museum

Documentation Association,

1992. 106 pp. 30 cm. Bibliog.

isbn 0-905963-84-9; issn 0140-

7198 (ringbound): £9.95. (MDA

occasional paper, 18.)

Even in these privateering days

museums tend to run largely on

public subsidy of one sort or

another and therefore have to be

publicly accountable. To this end,

and to assist scholarly interchange,

they have been revising their cata

loguing procedures so as to demon

strate the variety, interest and con

dition of their collections. The need

for precise descriptions of these

multifarious objects finally impelled

the dread word 'thesaurus' on to

the scene; hence this workshop

with its fifteen papers.

Leonard Will of the Science

Museum (author of a recent paper

in The Indexer) sets the scene with

a very basic introduction to

'Thesaurus principles and practice',

using strong graphics to illustrate

his main point that a simple name

list without some rules will rapidly

become a mess (e.g. magnifier, lens

or magnifying glass?). A good

machine-based thesaurus will reveal


to the enquirer what terms should

or could be used in searching, and

Will presents a sample hierarchy of

a thesaurus for costume. Anyone,

whether engaged in museum work

or not, could benefit from Will's

clear exposition. Stuart Holm fol

lows on with some desiderata for

selecting thesaurus software for

museum use, while Andrew

Roberts suggests some suitable

sources of thesauri and termlists.

At the Courtauld Institute, ICON-

CLASS gives multiple access points

to the subject matter and contents

of images, even down to pictures-

within-pictures.

The most impressive thesaurus in

this general field originated (where

else?) in the Getty Museum: the

three volumes of the Art and archi

tecture thesaurus covering 23 sepa

rate hierarchies recently thumped

on to the desks of those institu

tions which could afford it. Two

papers describe its application in

the Victoria & Albert Museum, one

to the collections themselves and

one to the National Art Library

within the V & A. It appears that

the V & A curators are now getting

the hang of terminology control

but have yet to see hard evidence

of its benefits; maybe that is one

reason why the Museum Docu

mentation Association has had

rather uphill work.

Other papers in the volume deal

with specific thesaurus management

software and particular thesauri.

The general impression we gain is

that all the contributors have

grown older and wiser through the

magnitude of the tasks they have

set themselves, but that our muse

ums can only be better off as a

result.

Cherry Lavell

formerly Council for British

Archaeology

Encyclopaedias

The London encyclopaedia. Rev.

edn. Edited by Ben Weinreb and

BOOK REVIEWS

Christopher Hibbert. London:

Macmillan London. 1993. xii,

1060 pp. 25 cm. Illus, indexes.

isbn 0-333-56028-0 (cased):

£45.00; isbn 0-333-57688-8 (pbk):

£25.00.

It is remarkable that this paper

back edition costs only £1 more

than the cased first edition of 1983.

Here we have 1060 packed pages in

double columns with a considerable

number of attractive historic illus

trations. All the" original entries

have been carefully checked and

brought up to date and many have

been partially or entirely rewritten.

There are, in addition, over fifty

new entries, a few of them describ

ing places or institutions which

were omitted from the first edition,

but mostly dealing with such new

arrivals on the London scene as

Canary Wharf, the Sainsbury Wing

of the National Gallery, the

Groucho Club and the Docklands

Light Railway. The entries are in

alphabetical order, from Abbey

Lodge to Zoological Society of

London, arranged in word-by

word order. The entries in the

General Index are generally to spe

cific places or buildings or activi

ties. Places and buildings that no

longer exist are printed in funereal

gothic.

There are two separate indexes,

arranged in four columns and in

tediously small type. The index of

people runs to 24 pages and the

general index to 26, making 50

pages in all.

Many of the criticisms made by

Judy Batchelor in her long review

of the first edition (in The Indexer

14 (2), October 1984) are reflected

in improvements in this second edi

tion, a decade later. For example, a

map illustrating the growth of

London from Roman times to 1865

has now been provided. The 99

names beginning with 'de' are no

longer indexed under D: for

instance, de Rothschild and de

Reuter are now under R. George II

no longer has 22 undifferentiated

references, or Charles II 97 entries.

The absence of guidewords at the

top of the pages continues to be an

irritating lack, as does the absence

of classified headings in the general

index. Certain subjects are grouped

together, with exceptions to this

rule when a separate entry is made.

However, it is difficult to under

stand the logic of the groupings, or

the exceptions. The guide to using

The encyclopaedia draws attention

to special subject entries for

Ballooning, Crime, Executions,

Planning and Building Regulations,

Population, Street Cries, Street

Lighting, Street Vendors, Trans

port, Water Supply and others.

However, a reader looking for the

names of all the prisons or rivers

or museums will not find them here

or anywhere. One cannot help

regarding the choice of subject

entries as somewhat capricious.

There is an enormous number of

names mentioned for checking and

updating entries. The acknowledge

ment note to the first edition is

also reprinted, but still with no

specific gratitude expressed in print

for the herculean task of pro

ducing these two indexes. My feel

ings are ambiguous as to the

interpretation of this, as I know

the wife of one of the editors is

our long-time, much respected

Registered Indexer Susan Hibbert.

The wording of the part she and

the other editor's wife played in the

production of the book 'to our

respective wives for their invaluable

help in a variety of ways' seems

pure Pymmery!

Elizabeth Wallis

Registrar, the Society of Indexers

Computers and

information technology

Flexible workstyles in the informa

tion industry, edited by Ann

Marie Cunningham, Wendy

Wicks. Philadelphia, PA:

National Federation of

Abstracting and Information

Services, 1993. ix, 116 pp. 28 cm.


Tabs. bibliog, index. isbn

0-942308-41-7 (pbk): $60.00

($50.00 to NFAIS members).

(1993 NFAIS report series, 2.)

Job sharing, compressed work

weeks (e.g. four 10-hour days per

week), flextime (variable start and

finish times), flexplace (telecom

muting, work-at-home, satellite

centre working), regular part-time,

voluntary reduced worktime (V-

time), phased or partial retirement,

leaves and sabbaticals, work shar

ing (reducing all workers' hours

and pay, to avoid sacking any

one)—these and other workstyles

are increasingly available.

Most of the methods can

improve the lives of employees.

Benefits include: less (or no) com

muting; control of one's own

schedule; ability to fulfil other

responsibilities and interests; sav

ings on travel and child-care costs;

increased concentration; better

health. Advantages for employers

can be: improved employee morale;

higher productivity; lower staff

absenteeism and turnover; reduced

overheads; extended coverage;

more efficient use of plant and

equipment. Some employers now

favour flexible (just-in-time, contin

gent) staffing, hiring only when

needed, e.g. on an hourly basis.

A survey of 47 US information

organizations in 1992, seeking data

on non-traditional workstyles,

found that flexible scheduling (flex-

time) was common (85% of the

organizations offered it to employ

ees), but flexplace was offered by

only 28%, and compressed work

weeks by 22%. Part-time employ

ment was prevalent (91%), but job

sharing was offered by 18%, partial

retirement by 16% and phased

retirement by 9%. (Bearing in mind

the modest number of organiza

tions surveyed, these lower percent

ages represent only a few employ

ers.) Other, unusual, workstyles

were award systems (time off for

high performance and attendance),

and (for professional employees)

time allowed at home for uninter

rupted working. Employees work-

BOOK REVIEWS

ing at home mostly had equipment

supplied by their employers.

These 'new' workstyles were gen

erally approved by both sides,

though there were some disadvan

tages. Employees reported difficul

ties such as: social and professional

isolation; stifling of career growth;

the need for self-discipline;

additional expenses (heating, light

ing ...); liability issues; difficulties

with supervision and evaluation;

distractions; additional administra

tive tasks. A drawback for employ

ers was the lack of supervision and

employee abuse of some systems.

The Information Access Company

telecommuter work-at-home pro

gram for indexer/editors and

abstractor/editors is. described.

'Homers' work at home or at

away-from-office sites, with sup

porting technology.

On the whole, this report implies

good news for indexers. Indexing is

an activity which can be practised

in various environments, and many

of us who are engaged in it prefer

a flexible workstyle—doing work

for different employers or clients,

mixing indexing with other kinds

of work, and choosing our own

hours and methods of working.

The opportunities for this way of

life seem to be increasing. The

report has an index.

Pat F. Booth

information specialist and

registered indexer

Publishing and writing

How to publish a book: a practical

step-by-step guide to independent

publishing. Robert Spicer.

Plymouth: How To Books, 1993.

139 pp. 22 cm. Illus, bibliog,

index. isbn 1-85703-071-0

(pbk.): £8.99.

How pleasant to have Mr Spicer,

SI member commended by the

Wheatley Panel for his own work,

to offer advice on publishing that,

at last, gives due recognition to the

need for a good index. We have

previously winced at Kritzinger's

published advice omitting any men

tion of indexes, at Legat's giving a

recipe for demonstrable disaster

and concentrating on how exactly

authors should complain to pub

lishers who insist on professional

compilation of the index. Now

comes Spicer, briefly explaining

why an index is needed, why

authors may not manage the task,

how to get it done. The whole

work is a clear, concise guide to

the stages of publishing, from

manuscript to sales records,

copiously illustrated with charts,

lists of fonts and proof correction

marks, and specimen letters,

estimates, invoices, records and

forms. Ends with glossary, reading

list and address lists (and index);

begins with a good laugh. Clearly

printed, nicely produced. Yes,

that's how.

Hazel K. Bell

Editor, The Indexer

Non-fiction books: a writer's guide.

Michael Legat. London: Robert

Hale, 1993. 144 pp. 22 cm.

Bibliog, index, isbn 0-7090-4945-5

(pbk): £7.99.

In 1982 Michael Legat wrote An

author's guide to publishing. The

1984 reprint was reviewed in The

Indexer in April 1987; its cursory

remarks about indexing, allied to

its extremely bad index, prompted

the reviewer to observe 'this author

needs a guide to indexing'. The

1991 paperback revised and

expanded An author's guide to pub

lishing likewise has a poor index. In

1989 Michael Legat published

another guide for authors, The nuts

and bolts of writing, which showed

no advance on his previous book:

again it had a wholly inadequate,

faulty index, mainly confined to

names.

Through the eighties Mr Legat's

comments on indexing seemed to

be confined to the cost rather than

any discussion of the purposes and


possibilities of good indexing.

Hazel Bell, in a powerful article on

the much respected Michael Legat,

wrote 'An author's guide to dis

paraging indexing' exposing his

ignorance of indexing, which is

made more ironic by the accolades

the book received from the

Secretary of the Society of Authors

and from Books and Bookmen.

As members of the SI will have

heard ad nauseam, the interest in

indexing of-too many authors is

mainly confined to saving money,

due to the standard terms of con

tracts of most publishers, so

authors grit their teeth and buckle

down to the task themselves. Some

authors, it must be said, have a

natural talent for indexing.

Unfortunately the majority of

indexes compiled by authors are

derisory, even after they have

received a few pages of instructions

from a thoughtful publisher on

compiling an index.

Now after 11 years advising

authors on writing, in his latest

and eleventh non-fiction book

(eight of which advise on various

aspects of writing) Non-fiction

books: a writer's guide, Michael

Legat devotes four pages to the

construction of the index. He

admits, after all the years he has

spent giving instruction on writing,

'In most cases, however, (the index)

has to be regarded as an essential

part of the book, the usefulness of

which will be greatly diminished

if an index has been omitted'.

Indexers are professionals, and he

quotes Bernard Levin's designation

of indexing as 'an appalling and

prolonged labour'.

In this latest book Mr Legat

gives the SI a great boost, and has

the honesty to admit 'I have com

piled indexes for a number of my

own books, and having made some

foolish mistakes in them, have been

severely and somewhat gleefully

taken to task by the Society of

Indexers for these errors—mostly,

but not always with justification,

and I have to say that I have

learned a great deal and am grate-

BOOK. REVIEWS

ful for them, even if their com

ments were a bit on the acid side'.

Truly we must rejoice at the con

version of this non-believer. He

goes on to give some handy tips

for constructing an index. I think

Mr Legat must now continue his

education by learning how the

computer can assist in removing

much of the drudgery he associates

with indexing.

The advice Mr Legat proffers to

erstwhile authors is 45 pages of

'what to write about', 40 pages of

'how to write a book', which

includes the aforementioned four

pages on indexing, and 41 pages on

'how to sell a book'. My only carp,

and I feel churlish mentioning it, is

to wonder why Mr Legat didn't

take his own advice and try a little

harder with this index. There are

216 lines for 135 pages of indexable

text, not really adequate; but I feel

it would be ungenerous to go into

any criticism in depth.

Elizabeth Wallis

Registrar, the Society of Indexers

PageMaker 5 in easy steps. Scott

Basham. Southam, Leamington

Spa: Computer Step, 1993. 223

pp. 23 cm. Illus, index, isbn

1-874029-06-7 (cased): £14.95.

(Available from Computer Step,

Unit c, Southfield Road,

Southam, Leamington Spa,

Warwicks CV33 OJH).

The Aldus Corporation's Page

Maker program was described in

an invaluable recent survey of

desktop publishing programs as

'the most widely-used DTP pack

age in the UK' (Steve McAllister,

Learned Publishing 1993; 6 (3), July

63-79). The program enables a

personal-computer user to produce

documents (from music cassette

labels through newsletters to entire

books), with sophisticated typogra

phy and design, that not only print

on a good home or office computer

printer but also have files in a data

format that can be used directly by

typesetters. Version 5 of the pro

gram, which came out in 1993,

added a number of features to

meet the challenge of its main com

petitor, QuarkXpress. As with

other wordprocessing programs,

however, PageMaker's indexing

options are still rudimentary in

comparison with cindex and

macrex—surprisingly, since in

every other aspect of publishing the

program incorporates the best

facilities available (the Proximity

Technology/Merriam-Webster

hyphenation system and spelling

checker, and the Agfa font kerning

system, for example).

Basham, a former lecturer in

computing and former training

consultant with Aldus, has pro

duced a brisk beginner's guide to

PageMaker 5 that.takes one a long

way beyond the Aldus Getting

Started booklet and rehearses quite

complex aspects of the program's

workings without ever leaving one

stranded. Basham's guide is highly

illustrated with screen shots and

annotated dialogue boxes, and is

liberally sprinkled with hints and

useful tips, some of which the book

claims are not documented in the

Aldus User Manual. Oddly,

Basham nowhere mentions the

indispensable 'grabber hand' that

moves the page around the screen

as if it were a piece of paper on a

desktop. For a beginner,~and espe

cially for those with some prior

knowledge of typography and

paste-up, the program is like a

large house full of rooms (and even

entire galleries) with copious riches

waiting to be discovered round

every corner. Basham has produced

a trustworthy quick tour enabling

one to settle in with confidence.

Michael Robertson

freelance editor, translator, and

indexer

Research for writers. 4th edn. Ann

Hoffmann. London: A. & C.

Black, 1992. xv, 216 pp. 22 cm.

Bibliog, index, isbn 0-7136-3584-3

(pbk): £10.00.

Both for novice and experienced

researchers in the humanities (his-


BOOK REVIEWS

torians and biographers, writers of

fiction and drama, and those inves

tigating family history), this fourth

edition of Hoffmann's guide to

research methods and sources pro

vides an updated version of an

invaluable resource.

The book's unique feature is its

listing of addresses and phone

numbers of hundreds of informa

tion sources (mostly British, but

with a small foreign section),

together with details of a very wide

range of reference works, even for

obscure detail (where to find out

what the weather was like on a

specific day in 1731, for a historical

novel, for example—and how much

the character concerned would

have had to pay for an umbrella).

The book now includes a section

on computer aids to writing and

research, but radiates its lack of

confidence here by constantly plac

ing the word 'on-line' in quotation

marks and, two pages later, dis

cussing how to use card-indexes

for note-taking—without referring

to note-taking software. When

Hoffmann recommends a 'personal

computer' as a piece of equipment

to 'take out "on the job'", one

hopes she means a laptop.

Some of the older features of the

book may still need further updat

ing—one glaring lack in its discus

sion of periodical research is any

mention of the Paris ISSN (form

erly ISDS) Centre's ISSN Register,

now on CD-ROM as well as fiche,

and, with quarterly updates, surely

the world's most exhaustive source

of periodicals data.

The index has now been expand

ed from seven to 11 pages of large

type, but prefaced by a note, 'It

would be impossible to include in

this index every library, institution

and book or newspaper referred to

in the text. . .' Perhaps the publish

ers should take the book's own

advice (p 164) and consult the

Society of Indexers.

Michael Robertson

freelance copy-editor, translator,

and indexer

Other subjects

Library lit. 21—The best of 1990,

edited by Jane Anne Hannigan.

Metuchen, NJ and London:

Scarecrow Press, 1992. xxii, 491

pp. 22 cm. Bibliogs. isbn

0-8108-2534-1 (cased): £37.50.

(Distributed in UK by Shelwing

Ltd, 127 Sandgate Road,

Folkestone, Kent CT20 2BL.)

This volume is the 21st—and

final—anthology of the annual 30

or so best articles about librarian-

ship and related areas. The series is

being discontinued for administra

tive and financial reasons.

Obtaining reprint permission for

articles has proved to be too time

consuming and costly and the

anthology is just not selling enough

copies.

There are 29 articles in this final

volume, grouped under seven main

headings: Technology, the future

and libraries; Government and

libraries; School media center con

cerns; Management approaches;

Children's literature; Library edu

cation; Historical perspectives and

collecting. In any anthology there

should be something for everyone,

depending on one's interests. For

me there are three outstanding ar

ticles, which all originally appeared

in Library Journal: 'Rehumanizing

information: an alternative future'

by John C. Swan (first appeared in

Library Journal 115 (14) Sept I

1990, ' 178-182); 'Reclaiming our technological future' by Patricia

Glass Schuman (from Library

Journal 115 (4) March 1 1990,

34-38); 'The new hierarchy:

where's the boss?' by Joanne R.

Euster (from Library Journal 115

(8) May 1 1990. 40-44).

The key point of Swan's contri

bution is that the challenge for

librarians is to illuminate the con

text of information, not just to

provide fragmented, decontextual-

ized access. Only in this way can

librarians carve a unique role for

themselves, more broad-gauged

than database specialists. Increased

computer access does not equal an

increase in collective wisdom.

Information without vision is

blindness. Schuman's article con

tinues Swan's theme and usefully

distinguishes between an informa

tion explosion—which is not hap

pening—and a data explosion

(access to excess)—which is. Data

provide neither enlightenment nor

knowledge. The proper role of

libraries is not simply to provide

information but to facilitate under

standing through knowledge and to

solve information problems. The

challenge is to help people formu

late the right questions.

Joanne Euster discusses the per

sistence of hierarchical manage

ment structure in libraries and the

need to develop alternatives in the

face of unprecedented influence

from technology, high costs, rising

user expectations and pressures

for improved quality and account

ability.

The other 26 articles range over

such topics as library and informa

tion services in South Africa, what

senior citizens want from public

libraries, an historical overview of

xenophobia in children's fiction,

and collecting detective fiction.

There are many connecting

threads between the articles in this

anthology. Unfortunately it is not

easy to pull them together since

there is no index. Perhaps the pub

lishers would consider bringing the

articles in the whole 21-volume

series together on a CD-ROM,

which could give them a new lease

of life and, through the indexing

software, provide the kind of sub

ject access which is absent from

individual volumes.

Tom Norton

Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries

and Food

Oxford Hammond atlas of the

world. Oxford: Oxford University

Press, 1993. 303 pp. 36 cm.

Index. isbn 0-19-869222-6

(cased): £37.50.

A new atlas, particularly with


such prestigious parentage, is an

event to be welcomed. The accu

racy and lack of distortion of the

maps, which use the new Optimal

Conformal map projection of Dr

Mitchell Feigenbaum, is impressive.

The use of a digital database, con

tinually updated, enables the provi

sion of up-to-date information for

text and maps. Well may it be

claimed that we shall never see a

truer picture of the face of the

earth. At this point however, it

pays to look more closely at the

maps and statistics. It seems a pity

that excellent ideas are frequently

spoilt by the use of insipid colours

which fail to catch the eye and

colour gradations not easily dis

tinguished one from another

which fail to convey information

properly.

Maps showing the Physical

World are pictorially excellent,

being actual photographs of three-

dimensional TerraScape™ models.

They give a vivid idea of the rela

tive heights and depths of the

world's lands and oceans—though

more numerical heights and depths

could have enhanced the picture

further. The maps which cover the

world—the larger part of this

atlas—give an excellent picture of

hills and mountains. This realistic

topography is achieved by combin

ing computer-generated maps with

hand-sculpted TerraScape™ relief

maps. However, the use of illumi

nated relief without any colour-

indicated height reduces the impact

of these maps. The amount of

information shown on the maps is

very full, though to make the most

of it one must either memorize the

information symbols and their

meanings or be constantly turning

to the front of the atlas. The index

of places and geographic features is

both easy to read and easy to use.

Though accurate and pictorially

pleasant this atlas tends to fall

between two stools. As a book of

accurate and undistorted maps it

will find a place on the shelves of

many individuals and institutions,

but as a working tool for the geo-

BOOK REVIEWS

grapher it lacks a certain clarity

and ease of access. We might do

well to ponder on the use made in

this atlas of a digital database and

computer-generated maps. Are we

looking at a future where the atlas

no longer sits on our shelf, but will

be called up on the computer

screen in forms which change to

suit our varying needs and contain

totally up-to-date information?

Connie Tyler

freelance indexer

Register of learned and professional

societies 1992, (prepared by) the

Foundation for Science and

Technology. London: Founda

tion for Science and Technology,

1992. xi, 207 pp. 21 cm. Indexes.

isbn 1-872387-03-9 (pbk): £21.00

(£10.00 to FST members).

This Register was first published

in 1986 by the Foundation for

Science and Technology (FST), a

liaison body for learned societies. I

could not locate a copy of the old

edition for comparison, but the

new one contains nearly 400 organ

izations, each with an entry in

standardized (presumably database)

form giving address and telephone

number, name of a key officer,

aims of organization, membership

figure, whether open to the public,

publications and the like.

Potentially, therefore, this is an

extremely useful publication. From

African Studies Association to

Zoological Society, here they are.

But are they? The problem with

entries apparently sought from the

societies themselves is getting

people to return their forms. We

are not told the proportion of com

pleted forms returned, but the mis

match between the list of 'Societies

accredited and affiliated to the

Foundation' and the detailed

entries indicates quite a few gaps in

the Register. Could not societies

failing to provide entries have been

given at least an address-only list

ing? Also there are register entries

for societies that do not appear in

the Affiliated Societies list. 'Where

did you come from, baby dear?' I

would have liked a clear statement

of the intended scope of the

Register: it is not enough to say

that it is a 'wide selection' of

learned societies.

As to the indexing, we must ask

why, when the entries are arranged

in alphabetical order of society or

institution name, we find a seven-

page index wastefully duplicating

that order? Nor is the subject index

as good as it might be. Worse: in

the initial list of 'Associate mem

bers and major donors', nine organ

izations are filed under The, thus

effectively mislaying themselves.

Fortunately, whoever compiled the

main entries knew better, and no

organization's entry is filed by the

definite article. Incidentally, the

British Academy, which had origi

nally combined with the Royal

Society to help establish the FST,

here maintains its customary self-

effacing stance by not appearing in

the Register: an unfortunate omis

sion of an important institution.

Sadly therefore the interval since

the first edition has not avoided

basic faults. The Register will have

some uses, but do not expect it to

be either complete or well indexed.

Cherry Lavell

formerly Council for British

Archaeology

The Times obituaries 1992: lives

remembered, edited by David

Heaton and John Higgins.

Blewbury, Oxon: Blewbury Press,

1992. x, 309 pp. 24 cm. Illus,

index, isbn 0-9518282-1-5 (cased):

£12.95; isbn 0-9518282-2-3

(pbk): £5.95.

This is the second annual volume

of obituaries drawn from The

Times and comprises 141 of the

1250 originally published in the

paper in 1992 (strictly, until the

3 November, 1992). The average

length is two pages and each entry

is illustrated by at least one photo

graph, in many cases two. Here

and there an obituary is supple

mented by material from The


Times' 'appreciations' column. It is

sad to note the passing in the same

year of such as Frankie Howerd,

Joan Sanderson, Leonard Cheshire,

Isaac Asimov and Kitty Godfree.

The arrangement is not, as might

have been expected, one sequence

of names arranged alphabetically.

Instead there are 18 categories

ranging from Actors and Actresses

to University by way of Literature

and Musicians, with the rather

quirky Originals and Tyrants

thrown in. Examples of these last

two sections are 'Mr Teasy-Weasy'

Raymond and 'Fat Tony' Salerno,

the Mafia boss, respectively. This

classified arrangement is clearly

laid out in the Contents List by

means of centred headings; a

feature that should have been

repeated in the body of the work

BOOK REVIEWS

which contains no headings other

than names, so that transition from

one category to another is a little

jarring.

The book's usefulness as a work

of reference is impaired by the fact

that it is so selective but the hope

is that The Times will see fit to

continue this annual series which

supplements, to some extent at

least, the 3 volumes of Obituaries

from 'The Times' covering the years

1951-75.

The index—which is necessary

since the text is not in a single

alphabetical sequence—consists

merely of the names of the

biographees in the simplest possible

form (e.g. Cheshire, Lord; Bath,

Marquess of)- It has no cross-

references and the page numbers

are not inclusive (e.g. Hill, Benny

19, 20, 21, 22 instead of 19-22). No

attempt has been made to index

the text of each obituary.

'1992 was a year of great expan

sion for The Times obituaries page.

More lives were remembered than

ever before and the range of those

who appeared on the page became

larger. By the side of the great and

the good were others who simply

had a fascinating story connected

with them' (publisher's blurb). In

his preface Alistair Cooke wel

comes the 'break in the long tradi

tion of the statistical, treadmill

obituary' and indeed, as well as

being a reference work, this book is

a jolly good read.

Geoffrey Dixon

formerly Craigie College of

Education

Publications received and publications noted

Directory of Booksellers Association

members 1993/94. London:

Booksellers Association, 1993.

xvii, 430 pp. 23 cm. Indexes.

isbn 0-907972-71-3; issn 0068-

1666 (pbk): £22.00 (£26.00 out

side UK).

Directory of publishing in Scotland

1993. 3rd edn. Edinburgh:

Scottish Publishers Association,

1993. 127 pp. 20 cm. Bibliog.

isbn 0-9513912-1-6 (pbk): £6.95.

SI and members are listed in sev

eral places.

A guide to Barsetshire people in the

novels of Angela Thirkell. Leeds:

The Angela Thirkell Society,

1993. 12 pp. 21 cm. Pbk.

(Available from The Angela

Thirkell Society, 14 Stanhope

Avenue, Horsforth, Leeds

LS18 5AR.)

The illustrated encyclopedia of his

torical facts from the dawn of the

Christian era to the New World

Order. Robert Stewart. London:

Simon & Schuster, 1992. 320 pp.

27 cm. Illus, index, isbn 0-671-

71110-5 (cased): £17.50. Indexed

by SI member Hilary Bird.

Journal of Agricultural and Food

Information. Editor Robyn C.

Frank. Binghamton, NY:

Haworth Press. Published quar

terly, issn 1049-6505. Annual

subscription: US individual

$28.00, institutions and libraries

$40.00; elsewhere price varies.

First issue published 1993.

Journal of Document and Text

Mangement. Editor Forbes Gibb.

London: Taylor Graham for

the Institute of Information

Scientists. Published three times

a year, issn 0969-9325. Annual

subscription £55.00 ($103.00)

(£27.50, $51.50 to IIS members).

First issue published 1993.

Journal of Information Networking.

Editor Lorcan Dempsey.

London: Taylor Graham.

Published three times a year.

issn 0966-9248, Annual subscrip

tion £57.00 ($107.00). First issue

published 1993.

Journal of Interlibrary Loan,

Document Delivery & Information

Supply. Binghamton, NY:

Haworth Press. Vol. 4, no. 1,

Fall 1993. issn 1042-4458.

Annual subscription individual

$24.00, institutions and libraries

S28.00, elsewhere price varies.

This is a continuation of Journal

of Interlibrary Loan &

Information Supply.

The Times guide to English style

and usage. Edited by Simon

Jenkins. London: Times Books,

1992. 190 pp. 18 cm. isbn 0-

7230-0544-3 (cased): £7.99. This

latest update of an eighty-year-

old work 'is an attempted com

mon view on the best contempor

ary usage by writers and editors

who work daily with words.'

Intended to provide pleasure

rather than pedantic accuracy.


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