ASI News
—Join annual meeting on May 19
—Conference gives up-close look at indexing
Chapters and SIGS
—History SIG to meet in May
—Share chapter and SIG news
Associated Industry News
—New indexers receive conference scholarships
—Head to Newfoundland for ISC/SCI conference
—CINDEX parent company changes hands
Spotlight on Sherri L. Barnes
ASI News
Join annual meeting on May 19
ASI President
Gina Guilinger
The meeting will be held online on Friday, May 19, at 10:00 a.m. Pacific/1:00 p.m. Eastern time. There will be networking time for members before the meeting kicks off.
Outgoing president Gina Guilinger will deliver her report, and Cheryl Lenser will give the treasurer's report. Gina will also thank volunteers with the presentation of the Kohlrabi Awards.
ASI members should watch their inbox for the Zoom link for the meeting.
Conference gives up-close look at indexing
More than 100 indexers and publishing professionals from the United States and a half-dozen countries gathered for ASI's online conference on April 28 and April 29.
"The Eyes Have It: The Indexer Perspective—Past, Present & Future" featured an array of intriguing topics and discussions, including: metadata at the New York Times; knowing when and how to hire someone to edit an index; history of stoplists; artificial intelligence and indexing; and e-book indexes, as well as a live indexing demonstration, and software breakout sessions.
Thank you to conference chairperson Amanda Wilson, ASI Executive Director Gwen Henson, and to all the presenters for an information-packed conference.
Session replays are available for those who registered for the conference.
The upcoming summer Key Words issue will include coverage of the conference.
Chapters and SIGS
History SIG to meet in May
The History/Archaeology Special Interest Group will meet on Friday, May 26, at 5:00 p.m. Eastern time. This online session gives SIG members an opportunity to get to know each other and to share indexing experiences.
Visit the H/A SIG's website for information about joining, or check out the SIG's discussion group.
Email Vickie Jacobs with questions.
Share chapter and SIG news
Please tell us what is happening in your chapter or SIG by emailing See Also.
Associated Industry News
New indexers receive conference scholarships
ASI members Laura Abed and Anna Aridome are among the recipients of the DReam to Index Scholarships, which award funds to new indexers for attendance at 2023 conferences presented by ASI and the Indexing Society of Canada / Société canadienne d'indexation (ISC/SCI). Laura and Anna attended ASI's conference in April.
ISC/SCI members Jess Herdman, Jessica Dee Humphreys, and Wendy Savage also received the DReam scholarships. Canada's conference will be held in June.
The award is in memory of David K. Ream, who was well-respected for his knowledge and IT support to indexers and publishers. This is the final year DReam Scholarships will be presented, as they were available for five years.
Head to Newfoundland for ISC/SCI conference
A Palgrave Macmillan representative will be among the featured speakers at the annual conference of the Indexing Society of Canada / Société canadienne d'indexation (ISC/SCI), to be held June 9-10, 2023, in St. John's, Newfoundland.
Indexing music; using non-indexing software and devices to boost indexing efficiency; and indexing medieval names are among the topics of the two-day event, titled See Also Newfoundland.
Complete details on the schedule and registration are available here.
CINDEX parent company changes hands
The services and support for CINDEX indexing software, available through Scribendi AI, are not expected to change after the recent acquisition of the parent company, Scribendi, Inc., by the Tokyo-based M3.
Indexer Maria Sullivan, who provides CINDEX support on behalf of Scribendi AI, said the change of ownership primarily affects the top management tier and that CINDEX will continue its tradition of accessible, responsive support through the company's strong IT team. CINDEX was sold in 2022 to Scribendi AI by its developer, Indexing Research.
For software support, visit the Scribendi website. Information on sales and upgrades is available here.
Spotlight on Sherri L. Barnes
This month's Spotlight is on Sherri L. Barnes, owner of Moonlight Indexing.
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 have been living in Ventura, California, since 1999. I came here from Brooklyn, New York, for a librarian position at a nearby university. Since retiring in 2021, my husband and I have been splitting our time between Ventura and Detroit, where we have a second home, and a loving tribe. I'm originally from San Francisco, but grew up in San Jose, California, before returning to San Francisco. In recent years, between commuting to work and managing elder care issues in San Francisco, I felt that I lived on the 101 freeway.
We travel and work too much to have pets (and kids, for that matter); plus my husband has allergies. However, a few years back, a neighbor's chicken, ostracized from her flock, adopted us, just showed up in our yard. Once we discovered where she was laying her eggs, we tried to support her, but I didn't like keeping her in a coop, when she clearly preferred roosting in our orange tree, and pooping on everything everywhere, especially our deck. We eventually found her a new home.
What is your educational background?
I have a BA in women studies from San Francisco State University, an MLIS (reference, public service concentration) from UC Berkeley, and an MA in liberal studies (American studies concentration) from the CUNY Graduate Center. I completed the Berkeley indexing course.
Do you have any hobbies, travels, volunteer work, or other interesting things to share?
Travel has always been a passion. A few highlights include a three-month librarian gig with Semester at Sea, a shipboard university that sails 700 students around the world; six months working at a school for street kids in Angola (Central Africa), and sailing the Greek Isles with a fleet of Black boaters.
After decades of travel for work and pleasure, I love being home to attend to my native plants garden. I serve on the executive board of punctum books, an open access publisher, and volunteer for Black Bottom Gardeners in Detroit. When the Detroit People’s Food Co-op opens later this year, I look forward to volunteering there.
Thrifting, antiquing, and flea markets are additional joys.
What kind of work did you do before you studied indexing? Are you still doing that or other work in addition to indexing?
Since I received a library work-study job as an undergraduate, librarianship has been my passion. Before attending library school, I had numerous paraprofessional library positions in many different types of libraries–special, public and academic. After library school, I spent five years in a large urban public library system, before discovering that I was more suited for academic librarianship. I retired from librarianship in 2021.
What is a favorite strategy to help motivate or inspire when you are feeling stuck during a work project?
Clearing my head, which usually means gardening or house cleaning. However, the answer usually comes when falling asleep or waking up. If the problem is simply determining the right heading, usually continuing to read, well past the problematic idea/passage, resolves the issue.
When did you start indexing? When did you join ASI?
In 2006 I was considering dropping out of the rat race and was looking for something I could do in a trailer on a beach in Todos Santos, Mexico, an annual destination that I never wanted to return from. While browsing a friend's bookshelf, I came across Nancy Mulvany's Indexing Books, and one thing led to another. I finished the Berkeley course in 2007 and joined ASI shortly thereafter. I've been hugely overextended ever since, but it's been worth it.
For you, what is the best advantage of ASI membership?
When I was learning indexing, it was talking to other indexers. ASI gave me access to other indexers through the San Diego chapter, and conferences. I attended chapter meetings and events to hone my craft and to be able to talk to other indexers about my newfound joy. For example, in a hotel lounge at a Denver conference, I was talking to an indexer about my struggles with developing a satisfying indexing process. She volunteered to review my indexes. Shortly thereafter, I discovered that she was a two-time winner of ASI's excellence in indexing award. Her assistance transformed my indexing experience. Now that I'm retired from librarianship and can take on more jobs than I have in the past, the ASI Indexer Locator guarantees that I have plenty of work.
Items to be considered for the See Also newsletter should be submitted by the 15th of the month before publication. For June 2023 issue, please email SeeAlsoEditor@asindexing.org by May 15th.
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