gardner said:

what use is preserving or fixing the page headings? If they can be mechanically fixed, they were not worth much.

well, to take your second sentence first, the runheads cannot _always_ be mechanically fixed. sometimes they contain text that describes the current point in the chapter, like an outline, and aren't just limited to a boring recitation of title and author. and returning to the question, runheads are useful since they help you keep your bearings in the book. even when they are nothing but title/author, they help keep recto/verso straight... plus -- especially when you're working on multiple projects -- it's useful to have the reminders about which book you're in... because without 'em, after a time, the pages all look the same.

Do you include or exclude running headings in your word-count dictionary analysis?  Does it matter?

never paid much attention, so i guess it doesn't matter much. but runheads are definitely excluded from search operations. -bowerbird