In indexing the periodical Perceptions, an attempt was made to note the FIRST appearance of an organization/group/community service on the community page,a page which has borne various names through the years, including "Groups," "Community page," "Where to Go," and "In Your Area." First appearance on this list is not necessarily always the first time the group or service has been mentioned in Perceptions, but the index information may provide at least a starting point for further investigation regarding appearance of a group. The indexer did not note discontinuation of listings.

This approach of checking each issue's community groups pages for additions was followed for issues 1 through 46 (1983-1988) and, in the case of these first forty-six issues, entries were made directly under the name of each organization listed. Beginning with issue 47 (P47), for the reason explained below, the listings for previously-listed Saskatchewan cities (Saskatoon, Regina, e.g.) were no longer checked for additions. The user might wish, then, to examine individual issues beginning with issue 47 for additions and other changes for these specific cities.

Beginning with issue 47, any organizations appearing on the community groups pages for newly-listed Saskatchewan centres are not listed, as was the case in earlier issues, under the name of the group or organization, but only under the collective heading GAY AND LESBIAN GROUPS AND ORGANIZATIONS, appropriately subdivided by place. (Note that entries specifically under the group or organization are made in the case of articles significantly concerning the organization, and that, in this case, an added entry is sometimes made also under the GAY AND LESBIAN GROUPS AND ORGANIZATIONS heading for the geographical area for post-expansion issues)

This evolution in indexing policy follows on the evolution of Perceptions itself, which, beginning with issue 47, began expansion of its community pages ("In Your Area") coverage to include first Edmonton in issue 47, then Calgary, Grande Prairie, Lethbridge and Red Deer (Alberta) in issue 48, and Winnipeg (Manitoba) in issue 49. Beginning with issue 47, the same listing approach is used for each of the centres outside of Saskatchewan as is outlined in the previous paragraph for newly-listed Saskatchewan cities. That is to say, in the first issue in which a city appears on the community groups page, a collective entry is made under the heading GAY AND LESBIAN GROUPS AND ORGANIZATIONS, subdivided appropriately by place, and in this entry a list of all groups and organizations appearing on that first issue's community groups page is given. Listings for that city in later issues are not tracked, while individual groups receive specific name entries only in the case of significant articles. The result of this policy is that, for example, Edmonton community page groups that appear in issue 47 are the ones listed in the collective, first-time listing for that city's groups; similarly, Calgary groups appear as they are listed in issue 48 and Winnipeg groups as they appear in issue 49, etc. Again, specific organizations appear directly under name and sometimes receive an entry under the collective heading for post-expansion issues when there is an article significantly concerning the organization.

User might see the editorial, issue 47 (v7n2)(April 4, 1989), which briefly describes the move of Perceptions from being a primarily Saskatchewan (and Saskatoon) publication to providing broader three-province coverage, for Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Manitoba (while also continuing national and international reports on major events).

NOTE ALSO that issues beginning with Perceptions, issue 1 (1983) contain a calendar of upcoming events. These calendars were generally not examined for indexing purposes.