Chapter 5Alphabetic Indexing

Rules 9−10RECORDS MANAGEMENT

Judith Read and Mary Lea Ginn

1

Rule 9: Identical Names

• When names are identical, the filing order is determined by the addresses (Read & Ginn, 2015, p. 89). • For identical names, sort

records by• City names first• State or province names

second• Street names third• House or building numbers

fourth

2

© 2016 Cengage Learning®

Rule 10A: Government Names• For local and regional government

names• “The first indexing unit is the name of

the county, city, town, or village (Read & Ginn, 2015, p. 94). For example, Raleigh Housing Department = Raleigh will be the key unit because it is a city.

• It is important to remember after finding the key unit to index the most distinctive part of the name (e.g., public library, fitness center, water works). In our example above Housing would be the most distinctive name.

• Finally, the type of office comes next (e.g., county of, city of, department of, office of) and and if of is not a part of the official name as written, it is not indexed. In our example Department would be next.

3

© 2016 Cengage Learning®

Rule 10B: Government Names• For state government names• The name of the state or province is the first unit• Next, you would index the most distinctive part of the name (e.g.,

attorney general, commissioner) (Read & Ginn, 2015, p. 95). • The type of office comes next (e.g., office of, department of) and if of is

not a part of the official name as written, it is not indexed (Read & Ginn, 2015, p. 95).

4

© 2016 Cengage Learning®

Rule 10C: Government Names• For federal government

names• It is important to remember

with federal government names to use three indexing levels rather than units (Read & Ginn, 2015, p. 97). • United States Government is the

first level (Read & Ginn, 2015, p. 97).

• The name of a department or top-level agency is the second level(Read & Ginn, 2015, p. 97).

• A distinctive name is the third level (e.g., national weather service, civil rights office) (Read & Ginn, 2015, p. 97). • Of and the are not considered but

may be included for clarity (Read & Ginn, 2015, p. 97).

5

© 2016 Cengage Learning®

Rule 10D: Government Names• For foreign government names• “The name of a foreign government

and its agencies is often written in foreign language. When indexing foreign names, begin writing the English translation of the government name on the document” (Read & Ginn, 2015, p. 99).

• Index the name as translated into English and use the most distinctive part of the country name as the first unit

• Next, “index the balance of the of the formal name of government…or the official name” (Read & Ginn, 2015, p. 99).

• Next, index distinctive names for branches, departments, or offices (Read & Ginn, 2015, p. 99).

6

© 2016 Cengage Learning®

Cross-Reference Recap• In chapters 3 and 4 we learned how to prepare the following cross-

references: • Compound names

• Names that are abbreviations and acronyms • Popular and Coined names• Hyphenated names• Changed names• Similar names

• In this chapter we will learned how to prepare two more types of cross-references

• Foreign business names• Foreign government names

(Read & Ginn, 2015, p. 101)

7

Cross-Reference Examples

• Foreign business names• File records under the English translation of the name

• Cross-reference using the foreign name

8

© 2016 Cengage Learning®

Cross-Reference Examples• Foreign government names

• File records under the English translation of the name

• Cross-reference using the foreign name

9

© 2016 Cengage Learning®

Subject Titles• Sometimes in a record systems files might be stored by subject titles and be

used in an alphabetic name file (Read & Ginn, 2015, p. 104). • . Below are some examples: • Applications • Bids or project names• Special promotions or celebrations

• Filing and indexing procedures for subject titles• The subject title is the key unit (Read & Ginn, 2015, p.104). • Subject subdivisions are indexed next (Read & Ginn, 2015, p.104). • The correspondent’s name is indexed last (Read & Ginn, 2015, p.104).

• Example Records Clerk Application from John Smith Application / Records (Unit 2) / Clerk (Unit 3) / Smith (Unit 4) / John (Unit 5)

10

Subject Titles

11

© 2016 Cengage Learning®

Resources• Read, J., & Ginn, M. L. (2015). Alphabetic Indexing Rules 9 and

10. In Records management (10th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

12