ASI News
—In-depth art indexing course starts October 11
—Webinar available for replay: Using Diacritics in SKY
—Volunteer opportunities for ASI members
—Fall Key Words hits inbox soon
—Choose health insurance with help from LIG
Chapters and SIGS
—Register for PNW program on avoiding "rookie mistakes"
Associated Industry News
—Submit proposals for ISC/SCI 2024 conference
Business and Marketing
—SCORE offers a hand
Spotlight on Lisa Ryan
ASI News
In-depth art indexing course starts October 11
The first session of "Indexing Art Books," an ASI Online Learning Course with Theresa Duran, PhD, is October 11, 2023. There is still time to register!
All types of art indexing—from exhibition catalogs to academic titles—will be explored in the three-part series, which continues October 18 and 25. Replays of each session will be available for those who register.
Theresa, ASI's current president, is a former staff editor at a publishing house that specialized in art books and products for museum gift shops.
The course begins with an overview of the field, then explores handling artist names, art titles, captions, and illustration locators. It wraps up with tips and strategies on finding work, bidding and setting rates, and troubleshooting common problems.
Examples from art books will be highlighted in each session. Both novice and experienced indexers could benefit from the range of material that will be covered. Some of the tactics can also be applied to indexing materials in other disciplines.
Registration information and a detailed look at the curriculum are available here.
Webinar available for replay: Using Diacritics in SKY
Indexer and SKY user Ælfwine Mischler presented a webinar on September 13, 2023, about diacritics. Mischler offered tips on using the Character Map and Translation Manager in SKY to streamline the process of getting diacritics from the PDF to the indexing software.
Long-term access to the replay is available here.
Volunteer opportunities for ASI members
Use your expertise to help index Key Words
ASI invites you to join the team that will be indexing past issues of Key Words. Carolyn Weaver has prepared the Key Words Index Style Guide, which will serve as the guidebook. We are compiling a team of seven indexers to index one year (four issues) of Key Words for the years 2017–2023. New indexers are welcome to participate as this is a great opportunity to add to indexing credentials. If you are interested or have questions, please contact Gwen Henson.
ASI Seeks New Webmaster Team Members
We're looking for volunteers to join the webmaster team! Do you enjoy updating and tinkering with your own website? Do you have WordPress skills? If you answered yes to either of those questions, this could be the perfect job for you. The workload is fairly light and we help each other out as needed, so the responsibility never feels too onerous. It’s a great way for newer members to get involved behind the scenes and contribute to ASI’s mission. Get more information here. If you are interested or have questions, please contact Theresa Duran to chat about it.
Fall Key Words hits inbox soon
Get a look at indexing rock 'n' roll history in the fall edition of Key Words, out this month.
ASI's quarterly journal will also explore:
- Multi-author indexing.
- Increasing income through speed and efficiency (Paratext column).
- A new book on indexing (review).
Key Words is delivered digitally to all ASI members. Others can subscribe here.
Choose health insurance with help from LIG
Assistance finding and selecting cost-effective health insurance is one of the benefits of ASI membership. This personalized service is offered through LIG, and more information is available here. Open enrollment for 2024 coverage starts on November 1, 2023.
Help ASI grow by sharing information about this benefit and others with those in the indexing and publishing field.
ASI's Membership Referral Program runs through October:
- Current ASI members who refer an indexer to ASI—and that person joins—are eligible to receive a tote bag with the ASI logo or one free webinar replay of their choice.
- Recruited new members will receive an ASI membership pin and one free webinar replay.
Full details about the program are available here.
Chapters and SIGS
Register for PNW program on avoiding "rookie mistakes"
Register by October 21 for Pacific Northwest Chapter's fall meeting on November 4, 2023.
Guest speaker Pilar Wyman's will discuss "Best Practices to Avoid Rookie Mistakes." The meeting will include Q&A time as well as post-presentation breakout sessions for indexers to get to know each other.
The program is free for PNW chapter members, $5 for ASI members who aren't PNW chapter members, and $10 for everyone else. Register here.
Associated Industry News
Submit proposals for ISC/SCI 2024 conference
ISC/SCI Conference Committee is accepting proposals for its spring 2024 online conference, The Art of Connection. Proposals will be accepted until October 16, 2023, focusing on:
- aspects of running an indexing business, such as social media for marketing, project scheduling, website construction and management.
- technology related to indexing, such as devices or equipment, non-indexing software, apps, or AI.
- improving/assessing index quality or usability, from broad topics such as improving your speed to niche topics on specific languages, communities, or subjects.
- non-back-of-book indexing, such as taxonomy, controlled vocabularies, thesaurus development.
Email conferenceprogram@indexers.ca for an application and more information.
Business and Marketing
SCORE offers a hand
For those starting a business or growing the one they have, SCORE may be able to help. It's a nationwide network of volunteer business experts who provide mentorship and education.
At SCORE, you can plug in your zip code to find programs near you. They also have webinars and in-person events and are affiliated with the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Spotlight on Lisa Ryan
This month's Spotlight is on indexer and abstractor Lisa Ryan, owner of Stellar Searches.
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 live in Worthington, West Virginia, in the north-central part of the state. I am originally from Staunton, Virginia, in the Shenandoah Valley. My husband and I moved here from Mount Sterling, Kentucky, east of Lexington, a couple years ago to be close to family.
What is your educational background?
I earned a bachelor of arts degree in English Language and Literature from the University of Virginia, then continued my graduate education at Emerson College in Boston, earning a master of arts degree in Writing and Publishing. I have a master's degree in Library Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Do you have any hobbies, travels, volunteer work, or other interesting things to share?
I enjoy watercolor and oil painting and am a member of the Morgantown Art Association, where I exhibit paintings in the gallery. With a background in creative writing, I have also written young adult novels and screenplays. I am an avid fiction reader.
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 an information specialist at the Center for Transportation and the Environment in Raleigh, North Carolina, conducting information searches. Then I served as an indexer/abstractor at the National Association of Home Builders and the US Department of Transportation, both in Washington, DC, before I started my indexing business. I still do information searches and abstracting.
What is a favorite strategy to help motivate or inspire when you are feeling stuck during a work project?
I employ strategies of information searching to motivate or inspire me when feeling stuck during a work project. I will search to find out more about a topic or to answer a question.
When did you start indexing? When did you join ASI?
I started back-of-the-book indexing in 2008 and joined the American Society for Indexing the same year.
For you, what is the best advantage of ASI membership?
The best advantage of ASI membership for me is the professional development opportunities, such as webinars, Online Learning, and conferences, and the opportunity to share my expertise in a recent abstracting webinar.
Items to be considered for the See Also newsletter should be submitted by the 15th of the month before publication. For November 2023 issue, please email the editor by October 15. Thank you.
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