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Double-posting

Double-posting is the practice of recording a specification of the information contained in a document and its location in more than one way. For example: assume that page 5 of a document contains information about population control in Latin America. The information could be specified using this entry:

population control
Latin America, 5

which could be flipped or inverted to create this entry:

Latin America
population control, 5

Reversing the order of a main heading and its subheading is called flipping or inverting headings. It provides access to information based on different levels of abstraction.

Access based on different levels of abstraction can also be achieved by posting an entry as a main heading and a subheading, as in this example:

gallows, 39-41
guillotines, 50-59
executions, 35-60
gallows, 39-41
guillotines, 50-59

Posting at different levels like this may result in scattering. For example: electric chair may end up being posted as either a main heading or a subheading, but not both. If that happened, your editor would be shocked by the inconsistency.

A third approach is based on using synonyms, such as:

cordials, 23-27
liquers, 23-27
ratafias, 23-27
:::
Churchill, John, 17, 28
Marlborough, 1st Duke of (John Churchill), 17, 28
Sandridge, Baron Churchill of (John Churchill), 17, 28

:::
Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), 119, 136
CORE (Congress of Racial Equality), 119, 136
:::
sildenafil citrate, 73
VIAGRA®, 73

Using synonyms accommodates differences in preferred vocabulary.

A fourth approach is based on inverting terms in a heading, as in these examples:

Board of Education of Topeka, Brown v., 84
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 84
:::
American Society of Indexers, 16
Indexers, American Society of, 16

Inverting terms accommodates differences in memory or knowledge. For example: some people remember legal cases based on the defendant's name, others on the plaintiff's name; some know the full name of a professional organization, others only that there is one for the profession.

Guidelines for double-posting:

Make sure your editor will allow double-posting. Double-posting increases usability but it also takes up space. As a result, many editors won't allow it.
Consider context before double-posting. For example: double posting the information about population control in Latin America would be unnecessary if the book was about population control or Latin America. The relationship would be implicit because of the index's context.
Use See references rather than double-posting in the early stages of indexing. Doing so will help ensure consistency of double-posted entries by reducing the chance that locators are posted to only one of the entries.
When editing, check See references to decide whether double-posting should be used instead. If so, double-post the information and check the posting for transcription errors.
Make sure double-posted entries are mirror images of one another. For example: make sure the page references are the same.
Don't overdue it. Don't introduce scientific terms when familiar terms will do, or vice versa. Think hard about double-posting headings having more than three or four page references or more than one subheading. Avoid double-posting full text equivalents for common acronyms or initialisms such as COBOL or FBI.

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