ABSTRACT
The term “index” has no precise definition. From the Latin for “informer” or “pointing finger,” it has been used to designate any label, list, table, or catalog that enables a thing to be identified and/or a reference to be located. It has been applied in libraries to lists that facilitate access to collections (or to catalogs of collections) through author, title, and subject designations, and in bibliographies similarly to lead to entries and groups of entries. As an adjunct to a published text an index provides help in locating subjects written about and references cited within that text. Published on its own, or more frequently together with abstracts, an index pinpoints and locates specific articles and topics that have appeared in a variety of publications.
