#23654
Usability is like beauty. It is in the eye of the beholder. In other words, much of it is purely subjective. For example, what seems useful to you today might not seem as useful to you tomorrow or next week or next month. With those thoughts in mind, I designed a usability test questionnaire for one of my corporate clients. Since then, I have used the questionnaire in consulting with other corporate clients to help them evaluate their existing indexes. Also, I have made it available on my Web site – http://www.indexingskills.com/usabhtml.html - and I have given several other corporations and publishers permission to use it.
Lathrop, Lori M. STC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Indexing>Usability
#30508
Indexing Standards and Usability Tests 
This paper provides reference information and complements the demonstration: 'Using Indexing Standards and Usability Tests' by Deborah Swain and Rebecca Oliver. Information covered in the paper includes historical background on indexing and on the ANSI Z39.4 standard for indexes. Questions about the effectiveness of standards are discussed. In addition, the paper describes one way to conduct a usability test on a back-of-the-book index: random analysis. (Three testing methods will be explained in the demonstration.)
Swain, Deborah E. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Editing>Indexing>Usability
