ASI News
—Committee calls for board member nominations
—ASI changes individual membership rates
—Save the date for annual conference
—Volunteer opportunities for many skills and interests
—2023 ASI Member Icon Projects Professionalism
—Check out new Key Words issue
To Your Health
—Open Enrollment for ACA plans extended to January 15th for February 1 start date
Chapters and SIGS
—Digital Publications Indexing SIG to meet Feb. 2
Associated Industry News
—ISC/SCI opens submissions for award
Spotlight on Jessica Hinds-Bond
ASI News
Committee calls for board member nominations
There will be four available seats on the ASI Board of Directors this year, and the Nominating Committee welcomes your interest and input on filling the positions for:
- President-elect
- Directors-at-large (2)
- Secretary
The president-elect attends all board meetings, serves as president the following year (2024-2025), and then as immediate past president, chairing the Nominating Committee—a three-year commitment in all. The other positions are also three-year terms. Responsibilities of all offices include participating in quarterly board meetings, acting as a liaison between the board and their assigned ASI committee(s), and contributing to other organizational issues and projects of interest.
Full details on the ASI Board can be found in the bylaws.
The deadline for receiving suggestions for consideration by the Nominating Committee is January 20, 2023. Email committee chairperson Michele Combs with questions or suggestions.
ASI changes individual membership rates
ASI's annual membership rate for individuals is now $225, effective January 1, 2023. That rate also includes free membership to one chapter.
There has not been a rate change in four years, and this new membership rate is necessitated by rising operating costs.
There is no change in rates for the Indexer Locator listings or for retired membership or organizational membership.
Check out all the benefits of membership.
Save the date for the annual conference
Sketching out your calendar for 2023? Be sure to save the dates for ASI's annual conference, which will be held on Friday, April 28, and Saturday, April 29, 2023. The conference is a chance for education on indexing and information on publishing trends as well as for networking with other indexers.
Volunteer opportunities for many skills and interests
ASI relies on volunteers to carry out its mission of raising awareness about the value of indexes and supporting and educating professional indexers. For ASI members, volunteering is a good way to promote this mission, connect with other indexers and hone or develop skills. A full list of ASI committees and programs is available here.
At this time, volunteers are particularly needed for the following:
2023 Conference Committee
Mission: Plan ASI's 2023 Conference, which will be held online April 28-29, 2023.
Volunteers needed: Committee members to help plan the conference, including researching and outreach to prospective speakers.
Contact: Amanda Wilson, conference chairperson.
Marketing Committee
Mission: Spread the word about indexing and about ASI and its members and services.
Volunteers needed: Indexers with fresh ideas about ways to inform other professionals about the value and role of indexes and indexers. Volunteers will brainstorm ideas and follow up and make contacts with, for example, various master's of library science programs, university chairpersons and book review editors. This committee might be ideal for someone with limited time but occasional great sparks of imagination, and possibly a variety of contacts, memberships, or subscriptions.
Contact: Christine Frank, committee chairperson.
Membership Committee
Mission: Welcoming of new ASI members.
Volunteers needed: Reach out to new members with a personal welcome and with support and information about accessing ASI's benefits.
Contact: Mamta Jha, membership chairperson.
Key Words
Mission: Quarterly journal of American Society for Indexing.
Volunteers needed: Ideas and topics for articles and development and writing of articles. If you have an idea, send Key Words editor a few sentences defining the topic and your angle. If you are not able to do the writing, send the editor topic suggestion and an outline, if possible.
Contact: Daniel Heila, Key Words editor.
Publications
Mission: Review of past ASI books for updating and revised editions as well as development of new publications.
Volunteers needed: Share your knowledge and experience by reviewing or contributing a chapter to one of ASI's books. Commitment for the various reviews will consist of reading the book in question and providing an assessment. For writers, write a chapter or more, depending on your interest and expertise. Authors retain copyright to their work, but agree to allow ASI to print and distribute their work and to defend their copyright.
History and topics for new indexers are primary content areas for publications. People with knowledge of technology/internet, law, psychology, and genealogy are especially needed to help with the review process.
Contact: Kendra Millis, publications coordinator.
Webmaster team
Mission: Timely updates of ASI's website.
Volunteers needed: The team comprises four people, with each member being on-call one week per month. The webmaster-of-the-week (WOW) responds to emails received in the webmaster mailbox, makes requested updates to the website as appropriate, and refers questions to other responsible parties as needed. At the end of the week, a brief report is sent to the other webmasters on the team.
Contact: Jennifer Spanier, webmaster team chairperson.
2023 ASI Member Icon Projects Professionalism
The American Society for Indexing strives to increase the visibility of the association and the indexing industry. Members of ASI can highlight their professionalism and assure their clients that they are dedicated participants in the industry by displaying the 2023 ASI Member Icon. The membership icon can be used in an email signature, added to websites, and featured on invoices and business cards.
A graphic file of the member icon can be easily downloaded here.
Check out new Key Words issue
Art indexing will be the primary focus of the Winter Key Words issue—coming in January. In addition, the issue offers:
- An indexer's insights on her first five years in business.
- A review of the international indexing conference in Berlin.
- An update on Penguin Random House's purchase of Simon & Schuster.
- A look at embedded indexing workflow.
To Your Health
Open Enrollment for ACA plans extended to January 15th for February 1 start date
One of the benefits of ASI membership is access to LIG Solutions, a service that offers help evaluating health insurance options to find the most affordable and best coverage for you. The open enrollment period for some programs has been extended:
- The Open Enrollment Period for ACA plans has been extended to January 15th, 2023 if you need coverage to start on 02/01/2023
- Employer Coverage: Can be done at any time of the year, but call or schedule an appointment to learn more.
Reach out to LIG now or at any time your health insurance needs change. For more information, click here and access the ASI member page.
Chapters and SIGS
Digital Publications Indexing SIG to meet Feb. 2
Members of the Digital Publications Indexing Special Interest Group will meet on a Zoom get-together on February 2, 2023, at 9 a.m. PST/12 p.m. EST.
The DPI SIG is a forum for indexers who are interested in all aspects of indexing and indexes for digital publications. This includes embedded indexing, website indexes and mounting of indexes on the web.
Visit DPI's website for more information about the group. Contact SIG manager Pilar Wyman with questions.
Information about all of ASI's SIGs is available here.
Associated Industry News
ISC/SCI opens submissions for award
Indexes crafted in 2021 and 2022 are welcome for consideration for ISC/SCI's Ewart-Daveluy Award for Excellence in Indexing 2023.
The Canadian indexing society contest is open to Canadian citizens or permanent residents as well as those who were ISC/SCI members at the time they created the index. The winner and runners-up receive feedback from three experienced indexers.
Deadline for submission is March 15, and there is a $30 submission fee. Full guidelines and submission form are available here.
Spotlight on Jessica Hinds-Bond
This month's Spotlight is on Jessica Hinds-Bond, of Good Strong Words.
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? Do you share your home with pets or family?
I've lived in Chicago for over a decade now. My husband and I moved here for my graduate school and then fell in love with the city and decided to put down roots. My family moved around a lot when I was growing up, but I lived mostly on the East Coast prior to moving here. I share my home with my husband, two young sons, and a dog and a cat.
What is your educational background?
My academic background is in theater, although I've also studied Russian for several years, both in the United States and abroad. I started off on the tech/design side of theater, but I quickly discovered that my favorite part of the design work was the research phase. I earned my Ph.D. at Northwestern a few years ago, with a focus on contemporary Russian plays that rewrite works of the Russian literary canon.
Do you have any hobbies, travels, volunteer work, or other interesting things to share?
When I'm not in child-wrangling mode, I love to cross-stitch, read novels, and go to the movies. My most recent cross-stitch is a matching set of Christmas stockings for the family. I also recently picked up hand-quilting, although I suspect it will be years before I have a finished project to show for it.
What kind of work did you do before you studied indexing? Are you still doing that or other work in addition to indexing?
I transitioned into scholarly publishing while I was completing my dissertation, starting off as a copyeditor for university press work. At this point, my work is about half-and-half editing and indexing. I love the variety that this brings; it keeps my workdays interesting.
What is a favorite strategy to help motivate or inspire when you are feeling stuck during a work project?
A friend introduced me to the Forest productivity app, which lets you grow virtual trees on your phone when you put it down to get work done. My favorite part is the “Plant Together” mode, which lets you grow a tree with other people. That sense of community and solidarity is really motivating, and it helps to see the virtual forest grow tree by tree, even when I feel like I am spinning my wheels.
When did you start indexing? When did you join ASI?
I started indexing a year or two after I started editing; some colleagues connected me to a recent grad who was looking for an indexer for his first book. After indexing that first book in Word (with Mulvaney's Indexing Books in hand), I decided that this was something I wanted to pursue professionally. I enrolled in the Berkeley course after that, and I joined ASI soon after, in 2019.
For you, what is the best advantage of ASI membership?
I love the online ASI learning opportunities and conferences, both at the full-organization level and at the chapter level. I don't have much ability to travel to physical conferences right now, so it has been really great to be able to connect with other members and also further my indexing training from my computer. I've learned so much from these events and also enjoy the sense of community they foster.
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