The Society of Indexers

Welcome to the Society of Indexers, the British and Irish professional body for indexing

The Society exists to promote indexing, the quality of indexes and the profession of indexing. Explore this site to find out why indexes are important, what makes a good index and what it takes to become an indexer through the Society's distance learning programme (now awarded CILIP Seal of Recognition).

We offer information for publishers and other organisations on commissioning indexes and our on-line directory Indexers Available provides an excellent up-to-date guide to indexers currently working in a wide range of fields.

If you're not sure why a full-text search or an index produced automatically by a word processor is no substitute for a well-crafted index compiled by a qualified indexer, then read James Lamb's Human or computer produced indexes? and  Bill Johncocks's Quality control and benefits.

Find out about the Society itself, how to join and the services we offer to our members.

  Meet an Indexer: profiles of award winning indexers.

Index: ordered arrangement of entries ... designed to enable users to locate information in a document or specific documents in a collection — ISO 999: 1996