What is Index (publishing)?
[[File:Book of Knowledge 1919 Vol 20, General Index Start.jpg|alt=Image of a page from the index of an encyclopedia|thumb|The first page of the Index to the Book of Knowledge, 1919 Vol 20]] An '''index''' is a detailed list of [[information]] in a printed [[Publishing|publication]]. This information can include names of people, places, things, events, or ideas that a reader may want to find. Next to each name is a page number.<ref>{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780198606536.001.0001/acref-9780198606536-e-2413 |isbn=978-0-19-860653-6 |title=The Oxford Companion to the Book |chapter=Index |date=January 2010 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/acref/9780198606536.001.0001 |editor-last1=Suarez |editor-last2=Woudhuysen |editor-first1=Michael F. |editor-first2=H. R. }}</ref> In a printed [[book]], the index is found at the end. It should not be mixed up with the [[table of contents]], which is placed near the beginning of the book. The table of contents gives the order of [[Chapter (books)|chapters]] within the book. The index is different from the table of contents because it gives the page location of detailed information inside the book.<ref>{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198606536.001.0001/acref-9780198606536-e-1175 |isbn=978-0-19-860653-6 |title=The Oxford Companion to the Book |chapter=Contents, table of |date=January 2010 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/acref/9780198606536.001.0001 |editor-last1=Suarez |editor-last2=Woudhuysen |editor-first1=Michael F. |editor-first2=H. R. }}</ref> The words in an index are given in [[Alphabet|alphabetical order]], first words beginning with A, then with B, then with C, and so forth. Indexing as we know it today had to grow over a long time of history. It depended on the [[invention]] of the alphabet. It depended on the invention of the book (or [[codex]], at first). And, as we have it today, it depended on the invention of the printed book. [[Johannes