Indexing large publications: when indexing rules and regular work practices may lose effectiveness

Book indexing standards are designed to promote consistency, clarity and usability, yet these principles are tested when applied to very large publications such as multi-volume encyclopedias. This article examines how scale fundamentally alters indexing practices and compels indexers to bend – or occasionally break – established rules. Drawing on practical experience with consolidated indexes covering several thousand pages, it explores how decisions about entry structure, cross-references, page reference order, string length, double postings and metatopics are reshaped by size and complexity. The article argues that large indexing projects are not simply expanded versions of smaller ones, but qualitatively different undertakings that require heightened professional judgement. These differences show up at every stage of the indexing work cycle.