Rebecca Linford (34), who works from home, picked up the top accolade for a website index she created for the department of English at the University of Dundee.

It was awarded first place in the recent Web Indexing Awards by the American Society for Indexing.

Her A to Z Index of the English website was announced as the winner of the Web Indexing Award 2007-8 at the Annual Conference of the American Society for Indexing held last month.

Rebecca is a graduate of the English programme (1995).

She also worked at the University in the Medical Library and then as the University's Web Administrator from 1997-2006.

Rebecca, a former pupil of Dundee High School, is a Chartered member of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, a member of the Society of Indexers and the Web Indexing SIG (Special Interest Group), a Special Interest Group of the American Society of Indexers.

She has an Honours Degree in English, a Postgraduate Diploma in Information and Library Science and is also a reiki master.

She has maintained the English website on a freelance basis since 2006.

The Web Indexing Award aims to encourage high quality website indexes and to promote the web indexing work of professional indexers.

The judging panel included Heather Hedden, author of the book Indexing Specialties: Web Sites, and Fred Brown, a recipient of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Indexers Web Index Award.

On news of her award Rebecca said: "Not many people think about how indexes are created, and it is a common misconception that they are generated by computers, which isn't the case.

"Indexers analyse the text, including implied concepts and synonymous terms.

"It is a very creative process, and there are many freelance indexers working around the world to create indexes to all kinds of publications, from newspaper archives to annual reports, from books to websites. "Most work on a freelance basis, and it can be a very rewarding, interesting, and flexible career."

In the UK, the Society of Indexers promotes indexing, the quality of indexes and the profession of indexing. They also provide an accredited distance learning course in indexing

To encourage high quality web site indexes and to promote the web indexing work of professional indexers, the Web Indexing Special Interest Group of the American Society for Indexing awards a deserving indexer the annual Web Indexing SIG Award for excellence in web site indexing.

This year first place went to Rebecca's Index to the English Department at the University of Dundee, Scotland English Department Web site: www.dundee.ac.uk/english/index.htm

A to Z Index: www.dundee.ac.uk/english/atoz.htm