Ten Characteristics of Quality Indexes: Confessions of an Award-Winning Indexer, by Margie Towery (Medford, NJ: Information Today Inc., 2016)

I must confess that while I bought my copy of Margie Towery’s book shortly after it was published, and while I have dipped into it occasionally, I had not actually read it all the way through until now. That was an oversight on my part, and now that I have read the book, I will be returning to it much more frequently.

I was first introduced to Margie Towery at the first indexing conference I attended, in Toronto in 2014. Towery gave an excellent presentation, in which she covered a lot of the same topics that are in this book. That presentation had an immediate impact on how I indexed, and it was actually just after that conference that I wrote the index for Strange Visitors, which later won the Purple Pen Award for new indexers. 

In this book, Towery goes much deeper into the how and why of indexing. Throughout the book, she proves that indexes and indexing are endlessly fascinating. Her enthusiasm is infectious, and her dedication to understanding the text and creating the best index possible is inspiring. I think she has the most thorough pre-index preparation routine that I have heard of, and I readily believe that it shows through in the indexes that she writes.

One of the running themes throughout this book is that of usability and accessibility. How to make the index easy to use for the reader? That, really, underlies the whole purpose of the index, which is to serve the reader as a finding aid. I wonder sometimes how often we simply follow a convention because it is in whatever guideline we are following, and we don’t think about whether it is the right convention for this particular audience. What makes Towery’s book particularly valuable is that she does discuss the why, and how it ties back to the reader. 

I was also glad to see a discussion of the em-dash-modified format. I think I first learned this format from Thérèse Shere on an email list, but it was good to be reminded of how it works and to see so many good examples of its use. The chapter on reflexivity was also thought provoking, especially the discussion on elegant additions that Towery sometimes adds to an index. This gave me a new way to approach the text as I consider what is indexable. I also appreciated her terminology for the different types of entries, particularly supermain headings and regular main headings. Having a framework for sorting through the masses of information in a book, and how that information relates to each other, is very helpful when putting the index together. Towery’s framework definitely helped mine.

Towery was also generous and extensive in her use of examples from her own indexes, which I think really adds to the value of this book, especially in the chapter on metatopics and index structure. I know I often learn best from being able to see and do, rather than just reading and hearing, so I am glad that Towery was willing to be so transparent about her own practices. 

Margie Towery is, unfortunately for authors and publishers, retired from indexing. But her book will be a lasting legacy and will be of benefit to indexers for a long time to come. It may not be the best starting point for those who are just starting to learn about indexing, as the discussions are more advanced. But for anyone wanting to improve their indexing skills, I highly recommend it. Do buy a copy if you haven’t already.