Chapter 12: Indexing
What Willinsky makes clear is that open access can only succeed through “comprehensive, integrated, and automated indexing” (176). In chapter 12, he outlines indexing projects at universities worldwide and then gives a brief history of indexing practices. He then recommends that scholars familiarize themselves with indexing standards in order to help readers “cut through the information overload” (178).
In appendix E, Willinsky provides a comparison of open access indexing and commercial indexing practices to show how multiple indexing systems make it difficult to search for information. Rather than asking users and librarians to choose between indexes in order to find the right information, why not create one comprehensive index? Willinsky realizes this may be a utopian dream, but he nevertheless argues that if authors took on the responsibility of indexing their own work, a comprehensive system may be possible.