Canada’s Professional Society of Indexers Since 1977

THE EYES HAVE IT: THE INDEXER PERSPECTIVE—PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE

APRIL 28–29, 2023. Presented by the American Society of Indexers

Indexers view books with a unique perspective. They look for concepts and ideas that readers seek and determine the best ways to help them find what they’re looking for. This year’s ASI conference considers the indexer perspective—past, present, and future. By taking a look back, indexers can discover how their work has been informed. Real-world insights help indexers enhance the skills they use on a daily basis. A glimpse ahead foretells how indexers will fit into the future landscape of publishing.

You’ll see two highly engaging keynote speakers: Jennifer Parrucci, senior taxonomist, gives an insider look at metadata at the New York Times and how news content is organized; Olga Brudastova, President of Local 2110, reveals what we can learn from the recent HarperCollins strike.

Attendees may choose from four bonus sessions on indexing software that give users an over-the-shoulder peek at the tips and tricks experts use.

Join us for this informative and interesting view of the world of indexing. Register now to ensure your seat.

• Eight sessions about indexing and the business of indexing
• Preconference—Fred Leise will teach a three-hour Introduction-to-Indexing Workshop on April 27, 2023 Separate registration required. Limited seating
• Bonus: Software sessions. Focus your gaze on tips and tricks of your indexing software of choice via screen sharing from an expert moderator!

Click to view the 2023 Conference Program and to REGISTER.

ISC/SCI members are eligible for a discount using the code found in the Member Dashboard.

Indexing Arabic names is challenging even for indexers who read Arabic. On Tuesday, March 14, from 6 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. Eastern Time, we are hosting a webinar that we hope will help solve that problem. The webinar is free and is open to members only.

In this webinar Ælfwine Mischler will present on the following:

• differences between modern and premodern names
• the definite article
• letters ayn and hamza
• names that must not be split
• titles and honorifics
• which name to use as the entry point
• resources for indexers

Ælfwine is an American copyeditor and indexer living in Cairo, Egypt. She works primarily on Islamic studies and Middle East studies books and has written a series of seven blog posts in American Editor about editing romanized Arabic in English texts and other posts on indexing. Ælfwine is also an ISC/SCI member.

To get the most out of the webinar, Ælfwine recommends that you prepare with these articles in her Romanized Arabic in English Texts series, written for editors:

• Part 1: Sources of Variations
• Part 2: Other Challenges for Editors
• Part 3: Spelling the Definite Article
• Part 4: Omitting, Capitalizing, and Alphabetizing the Definite Article

The 1 1/4 hour presentation will include a question-and-answer session. Attendees will be muted but will be able to ask questions using the chat box. Ælfwine will also take your questions before the webinar if you send them to webinars@indexers.ca by March 7.

The presentation (but not the Q&A) will be recorded. Once the recording is downloaded, it will be made available for purchase ($10) to all ISC/SCI members.

The Indexing Society of Canada / Société canadienne d’indexation (ISC/SCI) is pleased to announce that we will have a booth at the Expo for the 2023 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, run by the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, in May. Congress is the largest gathering of academics in Canada. In 2019, prior to the pandemic, 10,600 people registered to attend. This year Congress is back to being in person, at York University in Toronto. We’re excited to have the opportunity to talk with scholars and publishers throughout the academic humanities about what indexers do and how to find one. We can’t wait to show off how great our indexers are!

Learn more about Congress here.