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Introductory notes

Introductory notes, which are sometimes called headnotes, are textual notes that appear before the first entry in an index and explain features of it that may not be self-evident to a user. For example: they may explain why some page numbers are in plain text, some are italicized and some are bolded.

They are not required when an index contains no unusual features – e.g., when all headings and subheadings are in alphabetical order and all page numbers are in the same style as that used in the text.

They are required when:

The index and the document it pertains to are published separately. In this case, the notes should at least provide users with the bibliographic information needed to identify the document.
There are multiple indexes, such as separate name and subject indexes.
The index's scope is unusual - e.g., specific types of content have been included, such as appendices, bibliographic entries, figures, footnotes, illustrations, glossary entries, tables and maps, or excluded, such as references to specific types of people, places or events.
The ordering of headings or subheadings is unusual or occasionally inconsistent, as it may be when headings accommodate scientific or other special symbols, or when subheadings are arranged in a nonalphabetical order.
Locators refer to things other than pages, such as paragraphs or sections.
Typographic elements other than Roman typeface are used to distinguish main entries from minor entries; entries pertaining to the body of the text from entries pertaining to other elements of the text; entries pointing to locations where the subject is referred to and named from entries pointing to locations where the subject is referred to but not named; etc.
The translation or Romanization scheme affects the order of entries and, hence, needs to be made explicit or to be exemplified. For example: "The German ae, oe and ue are written as ä, ö and ü and sorted as a, o and u, causing Goethe to be listed as Göthe."
An abbreviation is used repeatedly, such as using the person's initials to signify the subject of a biography or appending f (or ff) to a page number to signify "and the following page (or pages)".
Unusual punctuation is used, such as enclosing page numbers in square brackets to indicate pages containing references to endnotes.
Column or quadrant identifiers are used, as they may be in indexes for documents containing large pages with lots of text in multiple columns. In such cases, identifiers may be appended to page numbers to indicate the approximate position of information. For example: an a may be appended if the information is in the upper left quadrant of the page, a b if it is in the lower left quandrant, etc.
"Passim" is used in a nonscholarly book.

Although introductory notes may significantly improve their ability to locate the information they seek, users may never read them. However, that is not an argument for not adding them.

Guidelines for writing introductory notes:

Only use introductory notes to explain special features of an index. Their sole purpose is to help readers understand uncommon ways of arranging or presenting information.
Place the notes between the title and first entry of the index. Any other location is likely to ensure that they will never be read.
Be brief. Lengthy notes may be warranted in some cases, but one short or medium-sized paragraph is generally sufficient for a back-of-the-book index.

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