Sender: Rare book and manuscripts <EXLIBRIS-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
Was there not a famous discussion of this problem by Anthony Panizzi of the
[then] British Museum [Library]?
Gabriel Austin
-----Original Message-----
From: Rare book and manuscripts [mailto:EXLIBRIS-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU] On
Behalf Of Gary Phillips
Sent: Monday, January 21, 2008 12:27 PM
To: EXLIBRIS-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU
Subject: Re: [EXLIBRIS-L] Indexing
There is a paper on the use of "The".
Glenda Browne: The definite article: acknowledging 'The' in
index entries (2002) 22 The Indexer 119
available here:
http://www.theindexer.org/files/22-3/22-3_119.pdf
It won the 2007 Ignobel Prize for Literature at Harvard
http://www.improb.com/ig/ig-pastwinners.html#ig2007
Gary
-----Original Message-----
From: Rare book and manuscripts [mailto:EXLIBRIS-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU] On
Behalf Of Wickenden Jane
Sent: 21 January 2008 12:15
To: EXLIBRIS-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU
Subject: Re: [EXLIBRIS-L] Indexing
Ed,
Being a librarian I would follow the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules
2nd ed. revised, and skip articles at the beginning of the title (mind
you, I also used to do this aged 8, before I ever heard of AACR2r or
dreamed of becoming a librarian).
One is aided in most cataloguing software by having a list of
"stop-words" (words that don't index) and the facility to make the
computer skip the first two / three / four (article plus space)
characters of a title. This means that the title displays as found on
the title page but is indexed as per the first significant word.
Regards
Jane
Jane Wickenden
Historic Collections Librarian
Institute of Naval Medicine
Alverstoke
023 9276 8238
http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/server/show/nav.5724
-----Original Message-----
From: Rare book and manuscripts [mailto:EXLIBRIS-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU]
On Behalf Of Edward T Pollack - A Fine Thing
Sent: 21 January 2008 11:38
To: EXLIBRIS-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU
Subject: Re: [EXLIBRIS-L] Indexing
A friend, in France, has decided to index some books and we discussed
the
definite and indefinite articles. Were I to index something like, say,
'The Lord of the Rings' I would put it under 'L'. However, assuming that
is what you would do too, what about the French 'Le' 'La' 'Les' etc,
and,
particularly the L'
Would you have a massive L section (as my friend is proposing) or go for
the first word after the article?
The French language Catalogue Raisonne of the prints of Jacques Villon
(Ginestet & Puillon) indexes by article, so that there is a large "L"
section. This seems counter-intuitive, and difficult to use...especially
if, like me, one is not always sure if the article is "le" or "la."
Ed Pollack
A FINE THING: Edward T. Pollack Fine Arts
Rare Books & Fine Prints
25 Forest Avenue
Portland, ME. 04101
207-699-2919
pollackbks@maine.rr.com
www.edpollackfinearts.com
Member ABAA/ILAB