In May we celebrate Mother's Day mid-month, and on Memorial Day we remember the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military. Some indexers are celebrating the final flakes of snow, while others have already experienced 100-degree days. From across the country, indexers will gather soon in beautiful Portland, Maine. We look forward to seeing you at the annual conference for networking, education, food, and fun.
Message from ASI President, Diana Witt
ASI Election Results
ASI Conference: Beacon by the Bay in Portland, Maine
Purple Pen Competition for New Indexers
Indexes in the News
Chapter News
News from Other Associations
Spotlight—Helmut Filacchione
Message from ASI President, Diana Witt
Hi everyone. This will be my last message as President of ASI. I hope to see as many of you as possible at our conference in Portland. We have a really good lineup of programming, and great keynote speaker from the New Yorker magazine. Visit our conference page and register!
It has been a challenging but wonderful year, topped off by the election of three new members to the ASI board of directors. Our president-elect is Devon Thomas. Our new secretary is Lisa DeBoer, and our new board member is Joan Shapiro. It is my great pleasure to welcome the board, and I know all of them will provide great leadership for ASI.
Diana Witt
2016-2017 ASI President
ASI Election Results
The ASI board of directors has three new members. Our president-elect is Devon Thomas, our new secretary is Lisa DeBoer, and our new board member is Joan Shapiro.
They will take on their new roles at the annual meeting on June 17.
ASI Annual Conference and Workshop: Beacon by the Bay in Portland, Maine
Beacon by the Bay
June 15-17, 2017
Portland, Maine
If you haven’t registered yet for the ASI annual conference, it’s not too late. Check out details of the conference and register online.
New to indexing? There’s also a one-day workshop before the conference—The Art of Indexing, Learning and Refining.
You can register for just the workshop, or for both the workshop and conference.
Purple Pen Competition for New Indexers
The Institute of Certified Indexers (ICI) announces the opening of its fourth year of competition for the Purple Pen Award for newer indexers. This successful effort has found a welcoming home among indexers with five years or less of experience.
Last year’s winner, Sam Arnold-Boyd, writes:
“I would encourage every indexer who meets the criteria to enter the Purple Pen Award contest. It is the best bargain in indexing instruction! I found the detailed feedback to be highly beneficial because it gave the perspective of three highly-qualified judges on a book I had indexed and illustrated how I could improve specific entries as well as confirmed what I was doing right. Using the Institute of Certified Indexer’s Indexing Best Practices as a framework for review gave me new insights and ideas about how I could approach future projects.”
Sam won for indexing the book, A Thousand Cuts: The Bizarre Underground World of Collectors and Dealers Who Saved the Movies by Dennis Bartok and Jeff Joseph, published by the University Press of Mississippi. When the author and publisher of the book Sam indexed were notified of her winning the contest, both sent back enthusiastic notes which are excellent references for new indexers in their quest for more clients.
Sam is the first U.S. winner (the previous two years’ winners were Canadian). The contest is open internationally to those who qualify.
The submissions for judging are due by July 31, 2017, and rules and details (as well as entry form) are 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.
Indexes in the News
Thanks go to ASI member Elliot Linzer, who spotted this online article and posted about it on the Indexers’ Discussion Group. Elliot takes no responsibility for the index, but is wondering who might have written it. It’s entirely possible that it was compiled by someone on Warren’s staff, but if anyone has any clues about this, please let us know.
The New York Times reviewed Elizabeth Warren’s new book, This Fight Is Our Fight. This is one of the few times an index gets an extensive discussion in a prominent American media outlet. The article praises the index highly, and offers details about why it is such a good index. Here is the link.
Chapter News
Pacific Northwest Chapter Fall Meeting
Saturday, September 16, 8:30-5:30
Springhill Marriott, Vancouver, WA
Mark your calendar. Registration information will go online in June. The program includes:
• Thérèse Shere on indexing cookbooks
• Scott Smiley on tax deductions followed by a business-oriented group discussion
• “Knotty Bits” group discussion
• Speed Networking
Watch for registration information in June, and if you have questions in the meantime, email Sam Arnold-Boyd.
News from Other Associations
Indexing Society of Canada—Société Canadienne d’Indexation annual conference in Montreal
The Indexing Society of Canada—Société Canadienne d’Indexation will hold its annual conference in Montreal, Quebec, June 2-3. Details and registration information can be found on their website.
Society of Indexers to hold 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 one of our newest members, who just completed the UCB indexing course. Welcome to Dr. Helmut Filacchione.
If you would like to nominate someone to be in the Spotlight, or put yourself there, contact Ælfwine Mischler.
Helmut retired to Waynesboro, Virginia, where he and his wife enjoy the cultural scenes in nearby Charlottesville and Staunton, and are active in animal rescue. Helmut was born in Austria, where he studied Applied Physics at the University of Technology in Vienna, Austria. He came to the United States as a Teaching Assistant at the University of Maryland and received his PhD in nuclear engineering. Subsequently he also received an MBA from Loyola College in Baltimore, MD.
Throughout his career, he worked in the areas of safety of nuclear power plants and other complex nuclear systems, including directing and overseeing safety research projects.
When a friend suggested indexing, utilizing his science/engineering/management experience, he felt this work would satisfy his drive to learn as well as to contribute. He recently finished the UCB indexing course and is looking forward to projects in indexing. For relaxation, he reads a variety of nonfiction books and is very interested in the connections between Buddhism-mind-science. He enjoys spending time with and riding his horse JR.
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