What is Indexing?

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“. . . an index is a systematic arrangement of entries designed to enable users to locate information in a document. The process of creating an index is called indexing, and a person who does it is called an indexer” from (American Society for Indexing)
An index is a concise, cohesive, and well-interconnected map to the text. It is an essential tool to accessing and revisiting content. It provides references to the locations of important information and deliberately excludes references to irrelevant information.
There are many types of indexes, including back-of-the-book indexes for nonfiction books, cumulative indexes for journals, and computer database indexes.
The index for a nonfiction book is typically the responsibility of the author. Most authors don't index their own work and few publishers have in-house indexers. 95 percent of indexing is done by freelancers hired by authors or publishers.