Memorial Day is past, June is here, and summer is with us — whether it’s hot or not. Happy Father’s Day to those of you who are dads.
ASI Conference: Beacon by the Bay in Portland, Maine
Post-Conference Cruise
Hines Award Winner
Purple Pen Competition for New Indexers
Chapter News
News from Other Associations
Spotlight—Maria Sosnowski
ASI Annual Conference and Workshop: Beacon by the Bay in Portland, Maine
Beacon by the Bay
June 15-17, 2017
Portland, Maine
The ASI annual conference will be June 15–17 in Portland, Maine, and it’s not too late to register.
Here you can find information on the conference and links to details about presentations, speakers, transportation, and sponsorship opportunities.
Sylvia Coates will conduct The Art of Indexing, Learning, and Refining Workshop on Thursday, June 15, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Beacon by the Bay, in Portland, Maine. This workshop is appropriate for new indexers, for professional development, and for the curious. You do not have to also register for the conference to attend the workshop. For details and registration, go to this page.
Post-Conference Cruise on Casco Bay
Join us on Sunday morning after the conference for a cruise on Casco Bay. Enjoy this narrated 90-minute scenic cruise through busy Casco Bay and its innermost islands to see lighthouses, forts, lobster boats, seals, and seabirds. See details here. The deadline to register for the cruise is June 7.
Hines Award Winner
Alf mabrouk (a thousand congratulations) to Pilar Wyman for winning the Hines Award for her long-time service to ASI and the indexing industry. Pilar has made exceptional contributions to ASI, and through her leadership, commitment to education, mentorship, and empowerment of members, she has enhanced the future of ASI.
She will receive her award at the annual conference. Read more here.
Purple Pen Competition for New Indexers
As mentioned in the May newsletter, the Institute of Certified Indexers (ICI) is holding its fourth year of competition for newer indexers. The submissions for judging are due by July 31, 2017, and rules and details (as well as entry form) can be found here. The fee remains $39.
A winner will be announced in September 2017, and all entries will receive a detailed critique from the panel of certified indexers. The judging process is anonymous.
Any questions should be directed to Enid Zafran.
Chapter News
Pacific Northwest Chapter (PNW-ASI)
Fall 2017 Metting
September 16, 2017
Marriott Springhill Suites
Vancouver, Washington
Come join us in lovely Vancouver Washington (near the Portland Oregon airport) for the PNW fall conference on September 16. We are featuring Thérèse Shere on indexing cookbooks, Scott Smiley on tax deductions, a discussion of business tips and tricks, a knotty bits session, and speed networking. Come join us!
New to indexing? See if you qualify for the Sherry Smith Award for New Indexers. The deadline for that is August 16.
For more information about the conference, the registration packet, or the Sherry Smith Award, go to www.pnwasi.org and select the Meetings tab.
For more information on the PNW meeting or the award, please contact Maria Sosnowski.
News from Other Associations
Society of Indexers one-day annual conference in Oxford on June 21
The Society of Indexers (UK) will hold a one-day annual conference on June 21, in Oxford, just before the Book Index symposium at the Bodleian Library. See the Society Indexers website for more information.
Spotlight
In the Spotlight this month is Maria Sosnowski of Index Plus, who serves as the PNW-ASI Chapter Secretary and the Legal Indexing SIG Manager. If you would like to be in the Spotlight or nominate someone else, contact the See Also editor, Ælfwine Mischler.
Where do you live now? Where are you originally from? Do you share your home with pets or family?
I live in Portland Oregon with my husband, two teenage boys, and currently two cats. We’ve had a variety of pets over the years, with three dogs and four cats being our maximum, but that was before we had kids. I grew up in a west suburb of Chicago, and don’t miss either the extreme humidity of summer or the bitter cold of winter. Portland is much more temperate than that. I moved here in 1988.
What is your educational background?
I have a BS in psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I did one year in a PhD program for psychology before I decided I really wanted to go to law school after all. So then I did one year in law school at U of I and then transferred to Lewis and Clark Law School when I moved to Portland, and that’s where my JD is from.
Do you have any hobbies, travels, volunteer work, or other interesting things to share?
Reading is my favorite thing, and despite the fact that I spend a lot of time reading for indexing I still really enjoy a good mystery or other novel when I settle down for the evening with a cat on my lap. My current volunteer work is all about indexing — I’m the secretary for the PNW chapter, on the program team helping to plan our conferences, and the manager of the Legal SIG.
In the recent past I helped out at school and won the Superintendent’s Award for volunteer work there. (And I’m thrilled that my kids are old enough that I will never help take 28 kids on a field trip again.) I’ve also done volunteer legal work, but that was a long time ago. I used to screen clients for a legal aid clinic one evening a month, and I also represented victims of domestic violence at hearings one day a month. Our travel tends to revolve around family — my husband is from New Mexico and I’m from Illinois, and we usually go to each state in alternating years to visit family. We also spend a week with our kids at the ocean each year.
What kind of work did you do before you studied indexing? Are you still doing that or other work in addition to indexing?
I practiced law for six years, mostly family law but a bit of other things. I found that incredibly stressful and negative, and left to work in a public library for a couple of years, and was then hired to work in a public law library where I’ve been since 1999. I do that part time which melds nicely with indexing. And it provides material for a future book if I ever want to write about all the strange characters who show up in a courthouse looking for help.
When did you start indexing? When did you join ASI?
I started in 2005, studying with Kari Kells. Later I took the ASI course to see what that was like. I joined ASI right away, since I feel that it’s important to support whatever professional organization is in your field. I got my first paying project in 2006 and it’s taken off from there. Since I index part time, it didn’t take me long to get enough work to keep busy enough.
For you, what is the best advantage of ASI membership?
I like having access to the Locator. I haven’t found a lot of clients that way, but I found one very lucrative one that will pay for the Locator for the rest of my life.
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