ASI News
—Celebrate indexing on National Indexing Day
—December's special event: All About Indexing—From Thesauri to AI
—Rewatch "Indexing Life Hacks"
—Create a macro, save some time
—Key Words: Share your tips, ask your questions
—Get guidance during health-care enrollment
Chapters and SIGS
—Digital Publications SIG to meet
Associated Industry News
—ASI member presents at ethics conference
—Group gives Project 2025 an index
Business and Marketing
—Explore how much words matter
Spotlight on Noelle Padilla
ASI News
Celebrate indexing on National Indexing Day
Join indexers across the United States on November 18—the first National Indexing Day—in honoring the craft of indexing and its crucial role in the publishing world.
ASI's special Indexing Day website (under development) is filled with facts about indexing and ideas on how to spread the word about indexing.
Use the #IndexingDay hashtag to share on social media your thoughts, experiences, and the significance of indexing in your life.
The date was chosen because ASI's first formal board meeting was held on November 18, 1968, in New York City. ASI is one of a worldwide community of indexing associations in countries including the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, South Africa, China, and Ireland.
ASI is an advocate for indexing and a leader in providing continuing education for indexers through webinars, online learning courses, and conferences.
Celebrate your profession and spread the word!
December's special event: All About Indexing—From Thesauri to AI
The ASI 2024 Winter Special Event—"All About Indexing: From Thesauri to AI, Tools and Tips for Working Smarter"—will be held Friday, December 6. Presentations include:
Cybersecurity for Business: John Iannarelli, a twenty-year FBI special agent, will show ways remote workers are vulnerable to cyberattacks and steps to prevent such disruptive incidents.
KEYNOTE—The Future of Publishing: The Role of Indexing: What impact will AI have on the future of publishing? Thad McIlroy will discuss the role AI will play in book publishing and indexing.
Back-of-book indexing with TExtract 11: Software developer Harry Bego will demonstrate how to use TExtract's automated and manual features to boost indexing quality and efficiency.
UNBIS Thesaurus: Susan Hussein, a metadata librarian at the UN in New York City, will discuss the United Nations Bibliographic Information System (UNBIS Thesaurus), its history, and its role within the controlled vocabulary of the Dag Hammarskjöld Library and the United Nations community. This will include insights on how updates to the vocabulary are managed.
Peripherals: Indexers will share tools that give them an extra edge in productivity.
Get more info and register here.
Rewatch "Indexing Life Hacks"
Now is the time to catch replays from the 2023 December special event. Those who had registered for "Indexing Life Hacks" have until December 5, 2024, to catch any or all of the presentations, which included hacks on saving time, minimizing stress, and increasing efficiency in your indexing work. Plus, there was a session on creating an ergonomic workspace.
Check them out here.
Create a macro, save some time
ASI member Elizabeth Bartmess gave attendees of last month's online learning course a comprehensive look at macros: what goes into designing, building, and debugging them; when to use them; and which dedicated macro software can help. "Make Your Own Macros" was held on three consecutive Wednesdays in October and is available in replays.
In short, macros can increase speed and accuracy and reduce repetitive processes, thereby lessening the toll on both your time and on your body.
Although they require an initial investment of time to build, you will eventually save time—potentially a lot of it. "Don't worry about the time you spend on macros while you are learning. You have the rest of your indexing career to recoup time from that," Elizabeth said.
She graciously shared some macros for use by attendees, but even better, demonstrated how to create macros for indexing, with detailed step-by-step exercises, for both Mac and Windows users. Attendees received a variety of helpful handouts and a robust glossary.
Those who registered have access to replays, and the course is still available for purchase here.
For more information, Elizabeth also wrote "Getting Started with Macros" for the Index Zero column in the autumn issue of Key Words.
Key Words: Share your tips, ask your questions
Key Words wants to hear about your business practices. Do you have accounting or billing software you love? Stories about difficult situations you were able to solve? Tips on receiving international payments? Contact editor Sarahh Scher.
If you have a question about indexing, you can pose it anonymously for the Ask Kate column. Longtime indexers answer the questions, including those you may be hesitant to ask. You can submit a question here.
Get guidance during health-care enrollment
Health insurance open enrollment season is underway. LIG Solutions, a benefit of ASI membership, offers help evaluating health insurance options to find the most affordable coverage that meets your needs.
The enrollment periods for insurance are:
- Medicare Annual Enrollment: Now through December 7, 2024.
- Under 65 Open Enrollment: Now through December 15, 2024.
- Employer Coverage: Can typically be done at any time of the year.
Reach out to LIG now or at any time your health insurance needs change. Members log in for more information.
Chapters and SIGS
Digital Publications SIG to meet
The Digital Publications Indexing SIG will meet online November 6, 2024, at 1:30 p.m. Pacific time/4:30 p.m. Eastern time.
Visit DPI's website for more information about the group.
Contact Pilar Wyman with questions.
Associated Industry News
ASI member presents at ethics conference
The Graduate Program in Publishing of the College of Professional Studies at George Washington University held the two-day 14th annual Ethics in Publishing Conference last month. The theme was "Integrity in a Time of Change." Topics focused on challenges in academic publishing, including diversity, equity, and inclusion; linguistic discrimination; research integrity; peer review; and responsible AI use.
Speakers at the hybrid event included academic publishing and library professionals, independent editorial freelancers. ASI's Amy Hall discussed content modification for young readers. She shared indexes from her own work on mature content for young readers regarding the #MeToo movement, violent historical events, and forensic science investigations.
The annual conference is open to all and is free of charge. Session recordings are due to be posted on the university's website.
—Jen Weers
Group gives Project 2025 an index
The Project 2025 Indexing Task Force, comprising volunteer indexers, created an index for the 900-page Project 2025. The index is available here. Ten professional indexers worked on the index and related publicity.
Project 2025: Mandate for Leadership is an initiative of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, focusing on proposed federal government policy changes.
"The Project 2025 report has been extensively covered in the news during the 2024 election season. By writing an index to this document, a group of professional indexers has provided an easy way to find information without having to read the full 900-page proposal," said Cindy Coan, the coordinator of the indexing project.
Those interested in learning more about the indexing project, or to help with publicity, can request to join the subgroup of the Indexer's Discussion Group.
Business and Marketing
Explore how much words matter
Careful word choice is essential for indexers, in everything from term selection to communications with clients.
The Conscious Style Guide website was created by author Karen Yin nearly ten years ago to "help writers and editors think critically about using language … to empower instead of limit." Conscious language, Yin emphasizes, promotes equity and fairness.
The website branched out to a free newsletter and was published this year as a book of the same name. The content focuses on how to identify biased language, how to use inclusive language, and explores the importance of mindful and compassionate language—in discussing gender and sexuality, ethnicity and race, age and appearance, climate and environment, and more. The website includes articles culled from journals and other media on these topics.
Spotlight on Noelle Padilla
This month's Spotlight is on Noelle Padilla, owner of Calliope 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 was born and raised in Houston, Texas, and now live in Greeley, Colorado. I live with my husband, Andrew; our dog, Skye; and with sweet memories of my late dog Sara, who very recently passed away after fourteen years with us.
What is your educational background?
I received my undergraduate degree in Japanese and international affairs from University of Colorado Boulder and my law degree from the University of Denver.
Do you have any hobbies, travels, volunteer work, or other interesting things to share?
I am an avid bicycle rider. I love Asian travel and want to do more. I volunteer at the local Pregnancy Resource Center.
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 a solo estate planning and probate attorney for twenty years. It took a few years of juggling indexing and wrapping up my law office, but I recently finished my last client's estate planning, so now I am indexing full time.
What is one of your favorite strategies to help motivate or inspire when you are feeling stuck during a work project?
I take a break and gaze out the window, looking for my favorite local hummingbird to visit. I haven't quite figured out exactly what kind of hummingbird he is, but when thinking of indexing business names, I discovered that Calliope hummingbirds like to nest in the Rocky Mountains, which are close to us in Colorado.
When did you start indexing? When did you join ASI?
After a serious health scare in late-2020, I realized I really wanted to change careers. With the help of a career coach, I began looking into getting my MLS degree. That never quite grabbed my complete attention, but along the way, I learned that indexing is a thing. By 2022, I knew indexing was the new career for me and joined ASI right away. I finished my training and started indexing in 2023.
For you, what is the best advantage of ASI membership?
Joining ASI is a great way to connect with other indexers and to let publishers know your skills and areas of specialty (and I discovered indexers comprise a wonderful, generous, and kind community).
Items to be considered for the See Also newsletter should be submitted by the 15th of the month before publication. For December 2024 issue, please email SeeAlsoEditor@asindexing.org by November 15. Thank you.
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