Happy Fourth of July to you! As you commemorate the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, enjoy a happy and safe celebration.
ASI Webinar: Indexing Lives: Savvy Strategies for Indexing Biographies and Memoirs with Connie Binder
Upcoming ASI Chapter Events
Western New York
Pacific Northwest
Chicago-Great Lakes
Recent Chapter Events
News from Other Associations
Diana Witt shares her experience at the 2018 ISC/SCI Conference
Spotlight—Rudy Leon
ASI Webinar: Indexing Lives: Savvy Strategies for Indexing Biographies and Memoirs
with Connie Binder
Wednesday, August 29, 2018
Biographies are delightful to read, but present special challenges to the indexer. The genre includes autobiographies, memoirs, biographies devoted to one main character, works about two or more characters linked thematically, and even books about corporate entities written in a biographical style.
During this webinar, Connie will provide an overview of the issues indexers commonly encounter when indexing biographies and provide strategies for dealing with them. For examples, we’ll peek into biographies she has indexed, as well as look at perspectives from other indexers.
Find more information on what you will learn and register here.
Upcoming ASI Chapter Events
Western New York Chapter Fall Meeting
Saturday, September 8, 2018
10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Tompkins County Public Library, Ithaca, NY
10 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Pilar Wyman will present on Embedded Indexing: Tips and Techniques, Software Programs, and Best Practices. There will be demonstrations and plenty of time for questions. You are invited to bring your laptop for this interactive workshop.
12:30 – 1:30 p.m. Lunch (on your own)
1:30 – 3:00 p.m. Open forum on indexing questions, a short chapter business meeting, and of course, networking with indexing colleagues!
Light refreshments will be provided.
Registration: ASI members $15, nonmembers $25.
Please send checks (payable to American Society for Indexing) to Lisa DeBoer, PO Box 6856, Ithaca, NY 14851. Advance registration is preferred; registration at the door is also available.
Questions? Please email Lisa DeBoer, WNY Chapter President.
Pacific Northwest Chapter 2018 Fall Meeting
Saturday, September 15
Springhill Marriott Suites
Vancouver, WA (a 15-minute drive from the Portland, OR airport)
Sessions include:
Pilar Wyman on Indexing in Digital Environments with Jan Wright anchoring the panel discussion
Greg Bessert, local attorney, on the New Tax Law
Carolyn Weaver on Disaster Planning for Your Business
Judy Staigmiller moderates a Knotty Bits group discussion
Find more information and a link to the registration packet on the PNW website.
The Chicago-Great Lakes Chapter Fall 2018 Workshop
Friday, October 26–Saturday, October 27
Hilton Garden Inn
Des Plaines, Illinois
Enid Zafran on Indexing Names.
Matt Rutherford on Genealogical Indexes.
Terry Casey on How to be the Interface between Publishers and Digital Indexing Techniques.
Jim Fuhr on CUP/XML WordEmbed.
Fred Leise on Brilliantly Structured Indexes Redux: Another Look at Index Structure.
For details (including hotel accommodation information) and registration information, please visit the Chicago-Great Lakes Chapter website.
Recent Chapter Events
The Golden Gate Chapter hosted a meeting and lunch on Sunday, June 17, in Berkeley. Susan Storch led a peer-review-style session on client communications in which attendees shared standard language or templates that they use with clients. The group examined sample contracts or letters of engagement, letters of decline, index submission cover letters, and other types of correspondence. The meeting also included a brainstorming session on possible public outreach events that chapter members could stage in the future. Theresa Duran and Claire Splan hatched plans to create a joint presentation on indexing for editors. They hope to use their connections with local editorial groups to educate Bay Area publishers and editors on the value of hiring professional indexers and on best practices.
News from Other Associations
Diana Witt shares her experience at the 2018 ISC/SCI Conference
Diana Witt shares her experience at the annual conference of the Indexing Society of Canada / Société canadienne d’indexation (ISC/SCI), which was held in Winnipeg, June 8–9, 2018.
I was privileged to be invited to present at the ISC/SCI Conference in Winnipeg this year. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The conference format is a continuous flow of presentations over two days, with everyone in the same room for each session. This promotes collegiality and a free exchange of ideas and opinions and is very appropriate for a small group. It was really interesting to attend a small conference with a different format.
Friday’s presentations began with a dialogue between Christine Jacobs and British indexer Maureen MacGlashan, who is retiring as the editor of The Indexer and who has been a frequent attendee at ASI conferences. Maureen addressed not just indexing but also her experiences in the British Foreign Service and how it shaped her knowledge of language and words.
Other sessions included a discussion of scholarly indexing, my demonstration of a “live” indexing session, where I demonstrated working with WordEmbed and PDFs with unique coding. In the afternoon a wonderful presentation demonstrated a new system Hansard uses for the British Columbia parliamentary proceedings. In addition to indexing the transcripts, it is now possible to use the index to capture segments of video of parliamentary sessions where issues are being discussed.
Indexers celebrate World Wide Knit in Public Day during lunch on June 9.
The conference closed with wonderful presentation by Gregory Younging, an Indigenous writer and editor. Professor Younging has published a book, Elements of Indigenous Style, which addresses some of the issues, obstacles, and ethical dilemmas editors, publishers and indexers face as they approach the texts of Indigenous writers. Many of us purchased this book at the conference, and it is available in print and ebook editions.
Gillian Watts and Diana Witt point to David Ream’s missing piece in the completed jigsaw.
Spotlight
Rudy Leon is still new to indexing but a frequent contributor to indexing discussion lists. If you would like to be in the spotlight or nominate someone for it, please contact the editor, Ælfwine Mischler.
Where do you live now? Where are you originally from? Do you share your home with pets or family?
I live currently in Reno, Nevada, and I love it here. I grew up in Chicago, and I’ve lived in a lot of different places—Iowa City, Berkeley, Champaign-Urbana, Santa Cruz, Humboldt County (Calif.), Los Angeles, northern New York, Boulder. I’ve moved a lot! I share my home with an aging cat (or rather, she shares it with me!).
What is your educational background?
I’m all-but-dissertation in the Study of Religion and I have an MS in LIS (and worked for over a decade as an academic librarian). I’ve studied so many things and have built up a broad base of knowledge that I use in indexing all the time.
Do you have any hobbies, travels, volunteer work, or other interesting things to share?
I do a lot of political volunteer work, both for organizations and as a member of my state and county party. I wish I was crafty, but I’m not, other than cooking. My friends are my biggest hobby, and I live in a slice of paradise, so enjoying the Sierras and Lake Tahoe is always on my to-do list.
What kind of work did you do before you studied indexing? Are you still doing that or other work in addition to indexing?
I was an academic librarian for over 15 years, and I still do some consulting work. In addition to indexing, I am also a copyeditor, and I teach workshops and university classes as an adjunct.
When did you start indexing? When did you join ASI?
I took the UC Berkeley class in the spring of 2017, and I joined ASI in September of that year.
For you, what is the best advantage of ASI membership?
The directory listing is so valuable. I didn’t get a single indexing gig until I got listed with ASI. I have a couple of ASI classes on my professional development to-do list, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to take them.
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