6. A method, implemented at least partially by a handheld electronic book reader device, the method comprising: under control of one or more systems of the handheld electronic book reader device configured with executable instructions, generating a searchable item index of terms in an electronic item; and generating a searchable master index of terms in the electronic item and other electronic items in a collection of electronic items stored in memory of the handheld electronic book reader device, wherein the master index comprises a list of terms used in electronic items in the collection and, for each term, a reference to one or more item index entries for the respective term, and wherein each reference to an item index entry comprises an identifier of the electronic item in which the term appears, a number of times the term appears in the respective electronic item, and a position at which the term is indexed in the item index for the respective electronic item.
14. The method of claim 6 , further comprising displaying a status of index generation for one or more electronic items in the collection of electronic items.