Indexing in the educational publishing industry: moving the index to the next level

Abstract

Do educational publishers still consider indexes to be important tools for information access in their products? Based on a survey of managing editors at multinational publishing houses in South Africa, they do care about indexes but only to a limited extent. The editors hire qualified indexers, but they offer relatively low pay rates and do not include indexes in books at primary-school level. While these findings could be dismaying, Deon Schutte instead finds it heartening that publishers are committed to including indexes in traditional media. He suggests that the next step could be for indexers to offer publishers new ways to create visually appealing, user-friendly indexes for readers of all ages and for books in all formats.