diff --git a/collects/scribble/html-render.ss b/collects/scribble/html-render.ss
index b416864c56..1f1a0c77b9 100644
--- a/collects/scribble/html-render.ss
+++ b/collects/scribble/html-render.ss
@@ -355,13 +355,13 @@
       null)
 
     (define/public (render-toc-view d ri)
+      (define has-sub-parts?
+        (pair? (part-parts d)))
       (define sub-parts-on-other-page?
         (and (pair? (part-parts d))
              (part-whole-page? (car (part-parts d)) ri)))
       (define toc-chain
-        (let loop ([d d] [r (if sub-parts-on-other-page?
-                                (list d)
-                                '())])
+        (let loop ([d d] [r (if has-sub-parts? (list d) '())])
           (cond [(collected-info-parent (part-collected-info d ri))
                  => (lambda (p) (loop p (cons p r)))]
                 [(pair? r) r]
@@ -389,9 +389,18 @@
         (define children (part-parts t)) ; note: might be empty
         (define id (format "tocview_~a" i))
         (define last? (eq? t (last toc-chain)))
-        (define expand? (and last?
-                             (or (collected-info-parent (part-collected-info d ri)) ;; => last isn't this page
-                                 sub-parts-on-other-page?))) ;; => last is this page, and it's useful to list subs
+        (define expand? (or (and last? 
+                                 (or (not has-sub-parts?)
+                                     sub-parts-on-other-page?))
+                            (and has-sub-parts?
+                                 (not sub-parts-on-other-page?)
+                                 ;; next-to-last?
+                                 (let loop ([l toc-chain])
+                                   (cond
+                                    [(null? l) #f]
+                                    [(eq? t (car l))
+                                     (and (pair? (cdr l)) (null? (cddr l)))]
+                                    [else (loop (cdr l))])))))
         (define top? (eq? t top))
         (define header
           `(table ([cellspacing "0"] [cellpadding "0"])
diff --git a/collects/scribblings/reference/bytes.scrbl b/collects/scribblings/reference/bytes.scrbl
index 2c8af4b3a3..7e76676f08 100644
--- a/collects/scribblings/reference/bytes.scrbl
+++ b/collects/scribblings/reference/bytes.scrbl
@@ -5,8 +5,6 @@
 
 @guideintro["bytestrings"]{byte strings}
 
-@local-table-of-contents[]
-
 A @deftech{byte string} is a fixed-length array of bytes. A
  @pidefterm{byte} is an exact integer between @scheme[0] and
  @scheme[255] inclusive.
diff --git a/collects/scribblings/reference/chars.scrbl b/collects/scribblings/reference/chars.scrbl
index ad24b501f7..af6341ed57 100644
--- a/collects/scribblings/reference/chars.scrbl
+++ b/collects/scribblings/reference/chars.scrbl
@@ -7,8 +7,6 @@
 
 @guideintro["characters"]{characters}
 
-@local-table-of-contents[]
-
 MzScheme characters range over Unicode scalar values, which includes
 characters whose values range from @schemevalfont{#x0} to
 @schemevalfont{#x10FFFF}, but not including @schemevalfont{#xD800} to
diff --git a/collects/scribblings/reference/numbers.scrbl b/collects/scribblings/reference/numbers.scrbl
index e8ff2b2743..67844e97f5 100644
--- a/collects/scribblings/reference/numbers.scrbl
+++ b/collects/scribblings/reference/numbers.scrbl
@@ -9,8 +9,6 @@
 
 @guideintro["numbers"]{numbers}
 
-@local-table-of-contents[]
-
 All numbers are @deftech{complex numbers}. Some of them are
 @deftech{real numbers}, and all of the real numbers that can be
 represented are also @deftech{rational numbers}, except for
diff --git a/collects/scribblings/reference/strings.scrbl b/collects/scribblings/reference/strings.scrbl
index 0b83db4a46..8f1175362f 100644
--- a/collects/scribblings/reference/strings.scrbl
+++ b/collects/scribblings/reference/strings.scrbl
@@ -5,8 +5,6 @@
 
 @guideintro["strings"]{strings}
 
-@local-table-of-contents[]
-
 A @deftech{string} is a fixed-length array of
 @seclink["characters"]{characters}.