As we welcome July, indexers across the country are experiencing summer weather—pleasant for some, sultry for others. Wherever you are celebrating, have a safe and happy Fourth of July!
ASI Announces New Promotion for Indexer Locator and Jobs Hotline
Recent Chapter Events
Golden Gate Chapter program on embedded indexing
News from Other Associations
Anne Fifer shares her experience at the 2019 ISC/SCI Conference
NISO to Update Indexing Standards
Work Smarter: Stay Productive on the Go
Spotlight—Rebecca McCorkle
ASI Announces New Promotion for Indexer Locator and Jobs Hotline
ASI is pleased to announce a new promotion of two methods for potential clients to find members. With help from a new landing page, people who are searching online for indexers (and who don’t necessarily know how to locate the ASI website) will learn about the ASI Indexer Locator and Jobs Hotline features. The page can be accessed via the following URLs:
FindAnIndexer.com
HireanIndexer.com
The more this service is used, the more search engines will “find” the landing page, so please feel free to check out and visit the page.
Additionally, potential clients utilizing the “Find an Indexer” feature on the ASI website home page have the option to go directly to the Indexer Locator and Jobs Hotline search pages when they click the button.
Our thanks to members of the Publisher Outreach committee (Joan Shapiro, Nan Badgett, Michelle Guiliano, Steve Ingle, and Joanne Sprott), the ASI board, and ASI’s executive director, Gwen Henson, for developing, fine-tuning, approving, and implementing this enhanced benefit for ASI members.
Recent Chapter Events
Golden Gate Chapter Program on Embedded Indexing
The Golden Gate Chapter hosted a program on embedded indexing in Berkeley on Saturday, June 22, 2019. The event included lunch, a brief update on chapter news, and plenty of time for socializing. Veteran indexers Susan Storch and Ken Hassman discussed different methods for embedding indexes in Microsoft Word documents.
Susan demonstrated the simple drag-and-drop method that she uses, which requires no special software other than Word and her indexing program (Cindex, but the method can also be used with Sky).
Ken demonstrated how to use a third-party utility like WordEmbed in conjunction with dedicated indexing software to produce either regular embedded indexes or CUP-XML indexes. (Ken uses Cindex, but his general methods can also be applied to Sky or Macrex.)
News from Other Associations
Indexers meet in Ottawa, Ontario, for the annual conference of the Indexing Society of Canada / Société Canadienne d’indexation (ISC/SCI)
Anne Fifer shares her experience at the annual conference of the Indexing Society of Canada / Société Canadienne d’indexation (ISC/SCI), which was held in Ottawa, Ontario, May 24-25, 2019.
Kate Mertes speaks at ISC/SCI conference.
Photo by JoAnne Burek
The Friday session included my presentation on methods for more painless editing, and a presentation on index structure by Fred Leise. Alexandre Grandmaître and Martine Rocheleau provided an update on the transition of indexing parliamentary information from traditional to database integrated management system. Kate Mertes discussed the increasing demand for and preparation of indexes locora. A breakout session focused on using the major indexing software, with presentations by Gale Rhodes from Macrex and Maria Sullivan from Cindex, along with a spontaneous group discussion about SKY Index Pro. Friday ended with the Annual General Meeting and the banquet and awards presentation.
The Saturday morning session started with a presentation by Camille Callison, a member of the Tahltan tribe, and Katherine Kasiver on Indigenous Knowledge Classification Scheme (IMCS), with examples of how this is being applied by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) and its broader applicability. Enid Zafran discussed indexing scholarly books, addressing how the indexer can approach this type of book, as well as the importance of indexer-author relationships and the future of this niche. Conference participants were treated to a breath-focused yoga session with teacher Ruth Paulauskas, featuring exercises that we can do at our desks during our workday.
The Saturday afternoon session began with Kendra Millis discussing types of biographical material that indexers might encounter and the options for indexing them effectively. A session devoted to growing an indexing business by Pierre Joyal included information specific to Canadian indexers that was also relevant to any indexer. Finally, we had a panel discussion (featuring Heather Ebbs, Christine Jacobs, Anne Louise Mahoney, and Elizabeth Schwaiger) on the ethical dilemmas indexers encounter in their work.
Did you know?
Granularity refers to the level of detail in indexing. According to Nancy Mulvaney, “The amount of detail to index will be influenced by the nature of the text itself and any restrictions placed upon the indexer.” (Indexing Books, 2nd edit.)
For a comprehensive discussion of this topic as it relates to creating well-structured indexes, check out the ASI online learning series, “How to Create Brilliantly Structured Indexes: A Metatopic- and Pan-Granular-Based Process,” presented by Fred Leise.
NISO to Update Indexing Standards
Voting Members of the National Information Standards Organization (NISO) have approved a new standardization project, Criteria for Indexes. This work, intended to become an ANSI standard to replace the Z39.4 standard withdrawn in 1997, will provide a modern approach to guidelines for the content, organization, and presentation of indexes used for the retrieval of documents and parts of documents. NISO published TR 02-1997, a technical report entitled Guidelines for Indexes and Related Information Retrieval Devices, in 1997 as a replacement for the Z39.4 standard, Basic Criteria for Indexes, when consensus could not be reached on the standard's publication. This technical report is now out of date and not suited for use in many electronic environments.
The goal of the new working group's output is to provide advice for creating indexes that better fits today's presentation and use cases. The working group will use the 1997 technical report as a starting point for its work, but it plans to create a new Z39.4 standard to include extensions and revisions to ensure it is current, including addressing embedded indexing and indexes designed for electronic searching. A formal standard will also ensure better authority and wider industry recognition.
According to NISO associate director for programs Nettie Lagace, "NISO is eager to modernize and re-publish one of our early standards, Z39.4. We are seeking broad representation from stakeholders, such as professional indexers, publishers, indexed database vendors, indexing tool vendors, and libraries, to ensure that the updated work has relevance to all of these audiences."
If you are interested in participating in the working group, contact Nettie Lagace. NISO membership is not required for participation.
Work Smarter
Stay Productive on the Go
These wireless work solutions make it easy to stay productive on the road (or even just on the patio) this summer:
- Store, access, and share your files with web-based apps such as iCloud (from the Apple store), Dropbox, and Google Docs.
- Transform your phone into a mobile workstation with wireless transfer tools such as AirMore for iOS (available from the Apple store) and SideSync for Android (from the Samsung store).
- Utilize the full functionality of apps you use every day with mobile versions of Adobe Acrobat Reader and Microsoft Office 365.
How can we help you “Work Smarter”? Send your ideas to See Also editor.
Spotlight
Our Spotlight this month is Rebecca McCorkle. If you would like to be in the Spotlight, or nominate someone for it, please contact the editor, Roseann Biederman.
Where do you live now? Where are you originally from?
I currently live in Lerna, IL, but am originally from Springfield, IL.
What is your educational background?
I have a Bachelor’s degree (dual major) in psychology and sociology.
Do you have any hobbies, travels, volunteer work, or other interesting things to share?
I am currently chairing the Membership Committee for ASI. In my spare time, I am an avid gardener and a huge baseball fan. My first love, though, is travel. Within the last five years I have been to India, Egypt, Ireland, and Scotland, and have journeyed throughout Southeast Asia.
What kind of work did you do before you studied indexing? Are you still doing that or other work in addition to indexing?
I worked as a Certified Pharmacy Technician for six years but am now indexing on a full-time basis.
When did you start indexing? When did you join ASI?
I started indexing in 2011 but joined ASI in 2010 when I signed up for the ASI indexing course.
For you, what is the best advantage of ASI membership?
The best thing about being a member of ASI is the interaction with others in the indexing profession. The annual conferences and chapter workshops are great learning experiences and networking opportunities. I always come home from these events with new knowledge and contacts, which more times than not turn into new sources of work.
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