ISC/SCI is completely volunteer run. The Society has an executive committee who meet quarterly and fulfill the main tasks that keep the organization running.
The Society also has various standing committees that perform various other tasks that are not essential to the running of the organization, but that benefit the members tremendously, for example, the conference committee, the awards committee, and so forth.
In addition, there are various ad hoc committees that arise to fulfill a specific need and disband upon completion of that task.
Volunteering is a great way to get to know your fellow indexers, to get more information about indexing in an informal way, and to contribute to the national organization.
Here is some information about the various committees and the types of volunteers needed for them. They usually have their own contact email, but if they don’t, or, if you want to volunteer for something but aren’t sure exactly how, please email presidents@indexers.ca.
Archive Committee
This committee is gathering all material (including digital and physical), researching the relevance of the material, researching the best methods of keeping the material, and reporting on all of this to the executive committee.
This committee will then archive the material and create a documented method of doing so.
If you have any material that you think may be of interest to the archive committee, please contact the chair at archives@indexers.ca.
If you would like to be a volunteer on this committee, please contact the chair at archives@indexers.ca.
Awards
The ISC/SCI Ewart-Daveluy Award, inaugurated in 2015, is presented to an individual who has created an index that demonstrates outstanding expertise. The award consists of a framed certificate accompanied by a letter.
The award is named after two historical figures who indexed and recognized the importance of indexes. Marie-Claire Daveluy (1880–1968) was a librarian, cataloguer, bibliographer, and historian. She co-founded and directed the library school at the Université de Montréal and published historical works, children’s fiction, and cataloguing rules, including those for subject headings. She also published a monumental work on Jeanne Mance, which has an index, in 1934. John S. Ewart (1852?–1933) published Ewart’s Index of the Statutes in several subsequent editions during the 1870s. He was a respected lawyer who practised in Toronto and then Winnipeg and was a member of the team that defended Louis Riel.
More information about this award and how to apply for it can be found here.
Book and Periodical Council
“The Book and Periodical Council (BPC) is the umbrella organization for Canadian associations that are or whose members are primarily involved in the publishing business. The BPC acts as a forum for its members to network, identify common goals and coordinate action to benefit the Canadian writing and publishing industry.”
The ISC/SCI presence on their site can be seen here.
Our representative attends meetings on our behalf and reports on what is happening in ISC/SCI to their meetings. Information also comes back to the executive committee on anything of interest on the publishing industry in Canada from their meetings.
Bulletin
The Bulletin is the ISC/SCI newsletter. It is published three times a year with a mix of Society news and relevant articles on indexing.
A managing editor acquires the articles and shuffles them through editing, translation, and proofreading. A production editor lays them out, prints a few and mails them out. The newsletter is then placed on the website for members to access.
These are the two main volunteer positions, but there are always more ideas for articles than writers, and volunteer copyeditors and proofreaders are always welcome.
You can reach the editor at Bulletin_editor@indexers.ca. You can see the latest issue of the Bulletin here.
Conference
Each year, ISC/SCI holds a conference in varied locations across Canada. Because many of the members reside in central Canada, the conference is held in either Toronto, Ottawa, or Montréal every other year. The opposite years, the conference is held in either the western or eastern regions.
The committee starts in late summer, choosing the location, venue, and theme for the conference to be held in late spring / early summer of the following year.
A conference committee of six people performs all the tasks of putting on the conference. Usually three remain on the committee for the next year, ensuring continuity of information. The general areas of responsibility include the following: chair, programming, venue, registration, publicity, and documentation (tickets, program, and so forth).
The committee meets about once a month in the fall, then about every three weeks in January and February. Meetings get more frequent as the time until the conference gets closer.
This committee is good for someone who has been to at least one of the ISC/SCI conferences and wishes to be more involved in the Society. If you are interested in being on this committee, please contact conference_chair@indexers.ca.
More information on past conferences can be found at the conference page.
Conference Scholarship Implementation
ISC/SCI has determined (upon the recommendation of the special projects committee) that having a conference scholarship would benefit the members.
The conference scholarship implementation committee has been tasked with creating an application form and a timeline. Two people are involved in this committee.
This is a new committee and would be good for a person who plans on coming to the conferences without a scholarship (to avoid conflict of interest!).
Mary Newberry Mentorship Program
The goals of the program are as follows:
- To assist new indexers to develop their skills and business
- To assist mature indexers to develop a new discipline or skill
- To provide an additional resource for indexers in remote communities, who may not have access to other resources or indexing communities
- To foster relationships between new and mature ISC/SCI members, and to encourage greater involvement in the indexing community
- To promote excellence in indexing
The program is named after ISC/SCI member Mary Newberry in recognition of her many years of mentorship and teaching.
If you are interested in being mentored or being a mentor, please visit the mentorship page.
Two co-chairs administer the program. If you would like to help out with this committee, contact them at mentorship@indexers.ca.
Outreach
This committee is an umbrella group of subcommittees all reaching out to the wider world. Two of the subcommittees are on hiatus at the moment, needing more people: Users and Usability Group and Technology and Skills Group. The publicity group has had some success (a snail mail letter is sent annually to all the publishers in Canada), but also needs a volunteer to continue.
The most active subgroup of Outreach is The Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity (TIDE) Group.
TIDE (The Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity Committee)
TIDE was developed to help the Indexing Society of Canada / Société canadienne d’indexation (ISC/SCI) fully reflect the diversity of Canadian society and to be able to provide high quality indexes to diverse stakeholders outside the Society.
TIDE Committee founded the Diversity in Canadian Publishing Bursary for Indexers in 2019. The goal of the bursary is to create a diverse indexing environment by inspiring the participation of individuals who self-identify as belonging to an underrepresented or marginalized group.
If you would like more information about this committee or the bursary, please go to the TIDE page.
Want to join the committee or help us with the Diversity in Canadian Publishing Bursary for Indexers? Get in touch by emailing TIDE@indexers.ca.
Ad Hoc Committees
In addition to the standing committees of ISC/SCI, various ad hoc committees are formed arising from ideas both within and outside of the executive committee. Having a committee outline an issue, do some research, and make a recommendation to the executive committee saves time for the executive committee to perform the ongoing tasks of running the Society. These committees usually have a very specific task and disband upon completion.
Some examples of recent ad hoc committees include the following: executive travel funds (completed), emeritus membership (almost completed), international travel funds (completed), translations (ongoing), and conflict-of-interest (almost completed).
If you are interested in being on call for various ideas that arise and having a specific task with an end point, then this is for you. Please email presidents@indexers.ca to ask about being on a roster for ad hoc committees.
Executive Committee
If you would like to be even more involved in the running of the Society, the executive committee exists to perform the basic tasks that are needed. Members get elected every two years to various positions. The executive committee consists of the following positions: two co-presidents (or president and vice-president), past president, membership secretary, treasurer, Bulletin editor, communications director, website administrator, and four regional representatives (BC, Prairies, Central, Eastern). In addition, the Society has an international liaison, a representative to ICRIS (International Committee of Representatives of Indexing Societies) who attends the executive committee meetings, but does not have a vote.
The Society encourages members to get involved in whatever capacity they can.