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  • × author_ss:"Stauber, D.M."
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  1. Stauber, D.M.: Facing the text : content and structure in book indexing (2004) 0.01
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    Footnote
    Facing the Text falls into what I call the third wave of books about back-of-the-book indexing. Each of these waves overlaps, but generally the first consists of the general manuals on indexing books (and other media): Booth, Knight, Mulvany, and Wellisch, along with chapter 18 of the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed. These set out the fundamental principles, conventions, or rules of indexing in a mostly impersonal, dispassionate tone. The second wave carried manuals on indexing in specific disciplines and genres: biography, medicine, law, psychology, history, genealogy, etc. The third wave, exemplified by Stauber's Facing the Text and Smith and Kells' Inside Indexing, delves into what goes through the mind of the indexer "facing the text" and putting together an index based on it. The tone is personal and subjective, the authors taking the reader through their own perceptions of the stages of indexing a book, the inevitable problems and subsequent decision making, expressed through their own reactions and reasoning. Facing the Text is not a manual where the newcomer to indexing can find immediate answers to specific problems: the first and second waves of books on indexing are designed to provide those. It's a book for the professional indexer or academic author indexing more than one book; its effect is to hone skills and refine working habits, to increase efficiency and effectiveness, to create indexes that make faithful, logical sense of the text. Newcomers, including first-time academic-author indexers, should begin with the last chapter "Inside an Indexer's Brain," then the second-to-last chapter, "Process"; in fact, I would suggest that any reader begin with "Inside an Indexer's Brain," for its introduction to the terminology and the overall look at indexing, from the first to the last page of the text to be indexed. As one would expect, the index to Facing the Text is comprehensive; in fact, exhaustive, and admirably detailed. The personable, conversational tone continues here, with entries such as "Subheadings/creating as you go" and "Notes to yourself." Of course, "Being stuck" is there as is, and also helpfully doubleposted as "Stuckness strategies." Finally, and on a relatively small note, this is a nicely designed book. Not only is it laid out for looks, it's laid out for use. The type is a friendly size, and the complex structure of headings, subheadings, and sub-subheadings is rendered immediately intelligible by the well-chosen fonts. My only criticism concerns the tightness of the binding; manuals should lie flat, without having to be anchored on each side with paperweights."