ASI News
—Get ready to "Spring Into Action" at annual conference
—Preconference workshop: Regular expressions
—Help Key Words cover the conference
—Voting for ASI board ends April 10
—Save the date: Annual meeting is May 17
—Spring Key Words is out soon
—Ask a pressing indexing questions
—Building mentorships: What it takes and why it's worth it
—Discussing client types on Playground
Chapters and SIGS
—DPI SIG meets May 1
To Your Health
—Dig into this kind of snack
Spotlight on Anthony Fazio
ASI News
Get ready to "Spring Into Action" at annual conference
Register by April 21 so you can "Spring Into Action" at ASI's 2025 annual conference on April 25–26. Early bird rates end April 16. (See below for details on the pre-conference workshop).
Conference attendees can learn new practical skills, enhance existing ones, and discover unexpected avenues for running a freelance business. There are also networking opportunities.
The conference's eight sessions explore:
- Indexing skills and strategies for: literary criticism; scripture and ancient sources; dealing with cross-references and double-postings.
- Assessing the health of your freelance business, with templates and prompts to help in the process.
- Conventional and alternative ways to market and land indexing projects.
- The process of book design.
- Legislation that could define "freelancers" and, in turn, protect the way we run our businesses.
- Generative AI and indexing.
A bonus session on April 24 will offer ways to reinvigorate ASI chapters and special interest groups.
Full details about sessions, presenters, and registration is available here.
Preconference workshop: Regular expressions
Learn about regular expressions (regex)—what they are and how to use them in indexing and editing—at this year's preconference workshop on Thursday, April 24. Registration is separate from the full conference.
The three-hour program is appropriate for indexers of all experience levels.
Michele Combs will lead the hands-on workshop, demonstrating how to use regular expressions in manipulating text, from changing capitalization to fixing punctuation to flipping the order of words.
Michele is a freelance indexer and editor in addition to being lead archivist at Syracuse University’s Special Collections Research Center.
Help Key Words cover the conference
If you plan to attend the conference and want to share what you learn, consider writing about it for Key Words. The journal needs writers for short-form (around 500 words per event) coverage of the preconference workshop and conference presentations. If you're interested, contact editor Sarahh Scher.
Voting for ASI board ends April 10
ASI members have until 5 p.m. Pacific time on April 10, 2025, to cast their ballot for Board of Directors candidates:
President-Elect: Shannon Li
Treasurer: Cheryl Lenser
Directors at Large: Elizabeth Bartmess and Marta Steele
A ballot and full information about the candidates is available here. Members need to login to access the candidate page and ballot.
Save the date: Annual meeting is May 17
ASI's annual meeting will be held virtually on Saturday, May 17, 2025. The meeting includes reports from the outgoing president and from the treasurer, and newly elected candidates officially take office. Watch for more details and a link in your email.
Spring Key Words is out soon
The upcoming issue of Key Words has a lot going on: Read Paratext for Scott Smiley's approach to markup; celebrate the ASI Indexing Award winners; and take a look at trade book indexing from humanities and science viewpoints. Plus, there's a new Index Zero and an installment of Eyes On Our World.
Ask a pressing indexing question
If you have a question for the Ask Kate indexing advice column in Key Words, you can pose it anonymously using this form.
Named in memory of esteemed indexer Kate Mertes, this column provides a forum for longtime indexers to answer your indexing questions, including those you may be hesitant to ask.
Building mentorships: What it takes and why it's worth it
Are you looking for a mentor, or would you like to be one? ASI's recent webinar offers valuable information for both. "Clear and Concise: Building a Successful Mentorship" was presented by Carlisle Froese last month and is available for replays.
The hour-long program lays out potential paths for both mentors and mentees, showing the benefits for each as well as for the profession of indexing.
"Mentorship has the potential to have a great impact on the craft," said Carlisle, who has chaired ISC/SCI’s Mary Newberry Mentorship program for three years.
The webinar explores how to establish, nurture, and successfully complete a mentorship, exploring issues such as style and structure of the relationship, setting goals and a schedule, and productive communication. It also looks at compensation options, potential pitfalls, as well as alternatives to mentorship, such as index reviews or book clubs.
"Crafting a successful mentorship takes work," Carlisle points out, and she gives interested parties a head-start with this webinar.
For those already registered, the replay is available. It can also be purchased for those not previously registered.
Discussing client types on Playground
Indexers gathered on ASI's Indexing Playground in March to explore the ins and outs of the various types of indexing clients.
The virtual Playgrounds give ASI members a chance to meet and discuss indexing issues in a casual environment.
This time, breakout groups focused on authors with a publisher; self-publishing authors; trade publishers; and university presses/scholarly publishers. Moderators were Johnna Dinse, Amy Hall, Nan Badgett, and Jola Komornicka.
Attendees represented a mix of experience levels, including several new indexers. Topics discussed included how to expand to new client types, rates, schedules, packagers, and how to reach potential clients.
Several attendees mentioned the value of ASI's Indexing Locator in securing new clients.
There was also discussion about using job boards, LinkedIn, and Literary Marketplace in marketing your business.
Ideas for future Playgrounds are welcome by contacting Shelley Quattrocchi or Gwen Henson.
Chapters and SIGS
DPI SIG meets May 1
Members of the Digital Publications Indexing SIG will gather virtually on May 1, 2025, at 1:30 p.m. Pacific time.
The meeting is an opportunity to catch up with each other and discuss indexing developments. There is no set agenda, but ideas for discussion are welcome.
A link will be sent to members as the date nears.
Information about all of ASI’s SIGs is available here.
Please share news about your SIG with See Also.
To Your Health
Dig into this kind of snack
Getting up from your desk for a snack doesn't necessarily mean heading to the kitchen. For those who spend a lot of time sitting at a desk, "exercise snacks" might be a better option.
The term has been around for a while, but the value of these snacks— short bursts of intense exercise lasting for a few minutes at a time—has been getting more attention, in research labs and in the media.
The Cleveland Clinic cites research showing the benefits of such exercise bursts include:
- Improved cardiovascular function.
- Increased endurance
- Improved flexibility and muscle strength.
- Reduced blood sugar levels.
Examples of quick, effective exercises that can be worked in throughout a work day include squats, fast stair-climbing, or knee lifts. For more ideas, search YouTube for "exercise snacks" and look for videos from fitness and health experts.
Spotlight on Anthony Fazio
This month's Spotlight is on Anthony Fazio, owner of AF Indexing.
If you would like to be in the Spotlight, or would like to nominate someone for it, please contact Laurie Hlavaty.
Where do you live now? Where are you originally from?
I was born and raised and still live in Littleton, Colorado.
What is your educational background?
After having gone back to college a couple of times, I finished my BA in English writing, and I also minored in religious studies and philosophy. More recently, I completed the UC Berkeley Indexing course, and I do enjoy attending as many of the continuing education opportunities available through ASI (and others) as I can.
Do you have any hobbies, travels, volunteer work, or other interesting things to share?
I am a big fan of fantasy/science fiction books and movies. I have started writing my own fantasy novel, but I am taking my sweet time on it. I also love cooking. I’ve written my own cookbook (handwritten) of my favorite/go-to recipes (I am currently working on volume two). I recently created an index for it, and since there is no real order to the book, the index has been invaluable! The book's recipes are almost completely dairy-free (there are some cheeses). Recently I’ve been experimenting with gluten-free recipes since I have a few family members who are gluten-free.
What kind of work did you do before you studied indexing? Are you still doing that or other work in addition to indexing?
I have had several different jobs over the years—check auditing, title insurance support services, and a few years in food service and catering. Now I am doing indexing and other odd jobs, looking to expand my indexing business and maybe someday become a writer.
What is one of your favorite strategies to help motivate or inspire when you are feeling stuck during a work project?
Usually if I just get up and walk away for a few minutes, maybe have a snack, that’ll do the trick. If it’s something bigger, then a short walk outside (on nice days), a nap, or even stopping for the day will help. Coming back to it the next day really can do wonders.
When did you start indexing? When did you join ASI?
I became interested in indexing when my former college professor suggested it at the end of 2022, and then after some study, I joined ASI at the start of 2023. It took me a while to get all the training I needed before officially starting my business. And then after that, it took about a year to land my first job—at the beginning of 2025.
For you, what is the best advantage of ASI membership?
Besides all of the wonderful continuing education opportunities, the people have been just wonderful! Everyone I’ve met has been so nice and super helpful. It’s great to be a part of a community that is so supportive of each other.
Items to be considered for the See Also newsletter should be submitted by the 15th of the month before publication. For May 2025 issue, please email SeeAlsoEditor@asindexing.org by April 15. Thank you.
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