Having settled upon a definite plan, the indexer seats himself at a
good-sized table, and lays out his materials in front of him. After
testing every possible method, the present writer strongly urges the
use of individual slips of paper, about 2½ inches by 4 inches. Arranged
within easy reach in front of the indexer, but leaving room for the
proof-sheets, should be twenty small pasteboard boxes,[48] a little
larger than the slips themselves.[48] On the inside bottom of each
box mark a letter of the alphabet, combining O and Q, U and V, and X
Y Z. As soon as a slip is written, throw it into its proper box, and
continue throughout the work. It is a false economy to search out the
slips for subsequent entries, unless they can be easily found, as it is
a simple matter at the end to combine the several slips which belong to
the same heading.
Here are sample slips, showing a heading which requires full entries
and one to which the text contains fewer references. The first shows a
slip on which the various entries have been combined:
+-------------------------------------------------------+
| Andastes, the, 5; location and characteristics of, |
| 36; synonyms of, 36; plans for converting, 130; |
| war with Mohawks, 147; Hurons ask aid from, |
| 162; mortal quarrel with Mohawks, 163; promise |
| to aid Hurons, 163; Huron fugitives try to reach, |
| 240, 250; Mohawks first to bear brunt of war |
| with, 268; receive aid from Swedish colonists, 268; |
| attack Senecas, 269; courage their only strength |
| 270; finally overborne by Senecas, 270. |
+-------------------------------------------------------+
This slip shows the method of indexing a work in more than one volume:
+-------------------------------------------------+
| James, Edwin, gives account of Nanabush, i. 67; |
| on Indian ideas of another life, ii. 79. |
| |
| |
+-------------------------------------------------+
In the rules which follow, the basis adopted is "Cutter's Rules for
a Dictionary Catalogue,"[49] prepared for library cataloguing. Such
portion as applies to book indexing has been freely drawn upon, adapted
and added to from the present writer's experience.