Bell, Hazel K., Indexers and Indexing in Fact & Fiction, University of Toronto Press, 2001, 160 pp. ISBN 9 780 8020849 41
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Hazel Bell (FSocInd) takes a wry look at the history, uses and implications of the index, offering an anthology of amusing index extracts. She considers the history and development of the index, highlighting the debate and comment it has invited over the years, and examines indexes from earlier centuries: some endearingly quaint; some deliberately humorous; some plain awful; and some which are astonishing in the vehemence of the views they present. She also examines the depiction of indexers in fiction (not a picture that is encouraging to the professional indexer) variously portrayed as diffident, domestic drudges or incompetent and fallen pedants.
