Society of Indexers

21/09/2026

Our online distance-learning training course concludes with the Pre-qualification Indexing Assessment, an index of a book-length work that is evaluated by an experienced professional indexer. This is a great dry run for professional indexing projects and you'll get detailed constructive feedback on the index you create.

[Photo credit: Photo by Ben White on Unsplash] Once you’ve completed the training course modules and tutorials, and passed the necessary assessments, the final

18/09/2026

This week’s Coffee Morning included updates on our two publications, SIdelights – our member newsletter – and The Indexer – our international journal.

Susie Marques, who has recently taken over as editor, gave an overview of the history of the newsletter. Originally circulated in hard copy, it became a digital-only publication in 2015, and it’s been published quarterly for many years.

SIdelights has a team of indexers behind it, including Christopher Pipe (production manager), Christine Shuttleworth (first proofreader) and Paula Clarke Bain (second proofreader). Now generally twenty pages long, it has regular features including an article by our President Caroline Sanderson.

There are regular updates from our Executive Board and individual directors, and features about individual indexers – for a geographically distributed group of people who work on their own, these can be invaluable in building connections between indexers. We also feature articles on technical and business topics to support members in their work. There is, of course, a cumulative index of SIdelights available to members.

The Indexer was launched in 1958, a year after the Society was founded, and is published on behalf of the indexing societies that subscribe to the International Agreement of Indexing Societies. Ann Kingdom, deputy editor, showed the diverse range of formats and cover designs that the journal has had over the years. The Indexer has a scholarly approach but balances this with practical content on indexing topics, and also reports on the activities of all the indexing societies around the world.

In 2018 we entered into a partnership with Liverpool University Press for the publication of the journal, and it’s now printed, distributed and made available online by them, while still being edited and written predominantly by indexers. All SI members receive The Indexer as part of their membership; access varies for members of other indexing societies, although anyone can subscribe via LUP’s website; articles over five years old are free to access.

Ann also talked about the challenges of maintaining the index to The Indexer. She’s been working on this with Australian indexer Max McMaster for the past few years. Particular challenges have been how to index the metatopic of indexing in this context, and developing a headings list that will support ongoing indexing of the journal.

Both our publications are fantastic examples of collaboration among indexers – for more on this, join us for our online conference on 11-12 November 2026:

Conference programme The Society of Indexers' 2026 online conference will take place via Zoom on 11–12 November 2026. We will have a full programme over two day

18/09/2026

How do indexers find their clients, and make sure their clients can find them? How do they build relationships with other indexers and the wider publishing world? We asked our panel of expert indexers how they approach networking:

In our latest Ask the Indexers blog post, we find out what our panel does to  network, make connections and maintain visibility. Christine Boylan, Advanced

15/09/2026

How can you best improve your efficiency, and give yourself time to focus on the fun parts of indexing work? We asked our panel of expert indexers to share their best advice and tips on working more efficiently:

As indexers gain in experience, they develop very efficient ways of working. We asked our panel of indexers for their best efficiency and timesaving tips. Chris

14/09/2026

Bookings are now open for , online from 11-12 November. Join us to discuss how as indexers we can connect and collaborate. Explore the programme and book your place via

Conference programme The Society of Indexers' 2026 online conference will take place via Zoom on 11–12 November 2026. We will have a full programme over two day

07/09/2026

Our online distance-learning training course isn't just the modules and assessments. There is support throughout from experienced professional indexers in the form of tutorials and mentoring, as well as peer support from fellow students. Our blog post explains how it all fits together:

[photo credit Kristin Hardwick, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons] This post follows on from the overview of the training course modules and explains how the other asp

04/09/2026

Need an indexer for your non-fiction book? In our Professional Directory, you can search on subject, type of publication and type of indexing to find the best indexer for your project. https://www.indexers.org.uk/find-an-indexer/directory/

03/09/2026

Are you a publishing professional who’s new to working with book indexers? Our guide to commissioning an index takes you through the whole process and helps you foster good working relationships and great indexeshttps://www.indexers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Commissioning-an-index-13-Sep-22.pdf

02/09/2026

At today’s Talking about the Past session, indexer Pauline Hubner shared her experience of indexing illustrated books. Pauline also works as a picture researcher, which has some crossover skills with indexing – considering the needs of the reader, and identifying search terms that will help find images that amplify the themes of a book.

Pauline mainly works on illustrated books and exhibition catalogues. These books tend to be very well structured and designed, and as well as lots of illustrations often include a lot of text. The publishers and authors of these books often want a spare, ‘clean’ index in terms of format and layout, which means the indexer needs to simplify and consolidate. Clients may also want to review the index very carefully to make sure it’s in line with curatorial standards.

Readers and reading practices can vary hugely; a monograph on a single artist may be read cover to cover, but readers of a thematic survey might be more likely to dip in to the text. The age range and specific interests of readers for exhibition catalogues can be very diverse.

Key issues for indexing illustrated books include how you deal with locators for illustrations; the best approach to indexing titles of works, especially where many of them might start with ‘Untitled’; and how to address names of artists and their subjects, especially where the latter’s names might be unknown or ambiguous.

Challenges include avoiding over-indexing or over-complicating the index. All of us present identified with this, and the pitfall of getting too involved, intellectually, with the index. This can be a good point in a project to go for a walk.

Pauline shared lots of useful examples of her work, showing her indexing process and how she approaches a complex project. She has indexed the catalogue for the forthcoming British Library exhibition on Agatha Christie, and this was a fascinating case study on how to deal with a broad, complex topic with very diverse themes, proliferating titles of works, and incorporate a huge range of visual material into the index.

Many thanks to Pauline for this fascinating discussion, and to Ann Hudson for facilitating. Next month, on 7 October, we’ll be discussing indexing personal names, a perennial challenge. All SI members are very welcome to take part.