To become a member of a SIG, one must be a member of ASI or an affiliated indexing society/group and pay the annual dues.
ASI members can join/renew and pay SIG dues on the same form they use to join or renew their annual ASI membership. ASI members who wish to join a SIG outside the membership/renewal process should use the ASI Online Store. Members of affiliated international indexing societies may also join/renew a SIG membership via the ASI Online Store. SIG membership expiration dates can be confirmed in individual ASI member profiles.
Some SIGs maintain online membership directories, especially those offering freelance services. To be included in those directories, members should contact the SIG directly.
Culinary
Manager: Rudy Leon, SIG Coordinator at culinaryindexing.sig@gmail.com
Annual dues: $12
The Culinary Indexing Special Interest Group is an educational forum and network for indexers interested in culinary indexing for books, periodicals, and websites. Membership requires concurrent membership in either the American Society for Indexing or one of its affiliated organizations. The SIG serves several functions. As an educational forum, it provides opportunities for members to discuss technical culinary indexing problems through the Yahoo email list available to members only. As a network, it provides members with access to information about publishers, authors, editors, and others who need culinary indexes. The SIG website at also includes an extensive collection of articles about culinary indexing, as well as the SIG Membership Directory. The website allows potential clients to find SIG members with the competence, experience, and availability that clients require.
The mission of the Culinary Indexing Special Interest Group is:
- to serve as an educational forum for its members through discussion of culinary indexing standards and practices and for nonmembers through educational outreach and instruction
- to promote awareness of standards and practices in culinary indexing to authors and publishers, as well as awareness of SIG member competence, experience, and availability in the specialty
- to serve as a referral network, so that members can reliably recommend other indexers who share their specialty
- to serve as a network for sharing information about the culinary publishing industry and potential clients. Members may use this network to find other culinary indexers to whom they may refer projects.
Digital Publications Indexing
Manager: Pilar Wyman at pilarw@wymanindexing.com
Administrator: Caryn Sobel at Email
URL: www.digital-publications-indexing.org
Directory available.
Annual dues: $12
The Digital Publications Indexing SIG is a forum for indexers who are concerned with all aspects of indexing and indexes for digital publications, including, but not necessarily limited to, indexing for digital-only publications, indexing in print-to-digital or print-and-digital workflows, as well as specific issues of embedded indexing, ebook indexing, indexing for websites, and mounting of indexes on the web.
The DPI SIG maintains an extensive website about embedded and ebook indexing at www.digital-publications-indexing.org, which includes a list of members specializing in various technologies. The website has information that is useful to forward to publishers considering indexing in different digital workflows, as well as information for indexers who need to learn new technologies.
Gardening/Environmental Studies
Manager: open
URL: www.bioindexing.org
Annual dues: $12
The Gardening/Environmental Studies SIG is an alliance of trained, skilled indexers with education, background, and experience in numerous subject specialties, including botany, gardening, horticulture, landscape design, agriculture, biogeography, ecology, environmental topics, geography, homesteading, natural history, natural resources, wildlife conservation and more. SIG activities include marketing, member networking, referrals, and continuing education.
The G/ES SIG maintains an online membership directory on its web site listing indexers' contact information, subject specialties, format capabilities, and language expertise. New or prospective members must fill out an application form in order to be incorporated into the online directory.
History/Archaeology
Manager: Vickie Jacobs at vfj.indexing@gmail.com
Directory available.
Annual dues: $12
The History-Archaeology SIG is an alliance of professional indexers with backgrounds in history, archaeology, and biography. We also index related subjects including anthropology, sociology, economics, political science, and literary criticism. Trade books, textbooks, children’s books, and scholarly books all fall into our purview.
We maintain a website at www.historyindexers.org that provides a list of professional indexers by their indexing specialties, names, and language competencies. To be listed in the directory, new members must complete and submit the membership form that can be downloaded from the SIG website: www.historyindexers.org/membership/.
A members-only email list enables us to discuss ways to achieve our goals, recognize volunteers or superlative indexers in our field, network, and publicize our services throughout the year. Members may subscribe to the list by sending a blank email to history-archaeology+subscribe@groups.io.
We welcome all ASI members and members of international indexing societies who index in history- and archaeology-related fields.
Legal
Manager: Maria Sosnowski at maria@index-plus.com
Annual dues: $12
The Legal Indexing SIG is for legal indexers or indexers who are interested in legal indexing, from legal topics for trade publishers up to specialty publications for practicing attorneys. The SIG is open to any member of ASI and the other indexing societies worldwide. Members are invited to join the Legal Indexing SIG discussion group by sending mail to legal-indexing-sig+subscribe@googlegroups.com and can choose to be listed in the directory of legal indexers.
Periodical/Database Indexing
Manager: Moira Calder at periodicals@shaw.ca
Annual dues: $12
The Periodical/Database Indexing Group is intended for both current periodical and database indexers, freelance and in-house, who are interested in networking and sharing information. Some of our goals are:
- Provide a discussion space where members can communicate with others who are interested in periodical and database indexing
- Help make database companies and periodical publishers aware of our qualified members when they are looking for indexers
- Share our knowledge and expertise with new indexers who are interested in periodical and database indexing
- Help to make periodical and database indexing more visible in the indexing world
For information about joining the SIG's invitation-only discussion list, email periodicals@shaw.ca
Sports-Fitness
Manager: Connie Binder at connie@conniebinder.com or sports-fitness@asindexing.org
URL: www.sports-fitnessindexing.org
Annual dues: $12
The Sports-Fitness Indexing Special Interest Group (SIG) of the American Society for Indexing (ASI) has been formed to serve as a network for indexers who work in the areas of sports, fitness, and related materials. The SIG serves several functions, including education and networking. Through meetings, publications, and internet resources, the SIG offers its members a forum for education, an opportunity to discuss and solve problems that occur in indexing these materials, as well as a chance to learn about potential indexing opportunities by communicating with each other through an e-mail discussion list.
The SIG also exists to promote a positive dialog between publishers and indexers who seek to provide our audience, the readers, with quality, user-friendly indexes. This dialog will be accomplished by the creation of marketing materials by the members of the SIG. A directory of available indexers will be maintained online and available to potential clients.
To be a member of this group, one must be a member of ASI or an ASI-affiliated indexing organization. One must also pay the SIG dues in effect.
Taxonomies & Controlled Vocabularies
Manager: Moira Calder at taxonomysig@shaw.ca
Webmaster: Moira Calder at taxonomysig@shaw.ca
Membership: D'Ann Hamilton-White at hamiltondann@gmail.com
Directory available.
Annual dues: $12
The Taxonomies & Controlled Vocabularies Special Interest Group (SIG) is a networking and educational forum for individuals with both a professional interest or background in indexing and involvement, or intentions to get involved, in creating or editing taxonomies, thesauri, or controlled vocabularies used for indexing. They may either be freelancers, contractors, or consultants, or work as in-house developers of taxonomies, thesauri, or controlled vocabularies, such as for publishers, database vendors, search software developers, etc.
Its objectives are to:
- Act as a forum for discussion of techniques, tools, standards and practices relevant to creating or maintaining taxonomies, thesauri, or controlled vocabularies.
- Provide information to indexers who want to expand their field and apply their skills to work in taxonomies and controlled vocabularies.
- Make taxonomy owners and consultants aware that there exist skilled indexing professionals available who are qualified to take on taxonomy projects.
- Serve Taxonomies & Controlled Vocabularies SIG members as a centralized source for referring contract projects and jobs.
The Taxonomies & Controlled Vocabularies SIG sponsors a LinkedIn discussion group:
ASI Taxonomies & Controlled Vocabularies SIG.