Members

Society of Indexers Conference 2024

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Bookings are now open for the Society of Indexers 2024 online conference ‘Human Indexing in a Digital World’. The conference will take place via Zoom on Wednesday 18th September and Thursday 19th September 2024.

The rate for the two-day conference is £50 for SI, ICRIS-affiliated and CIEP members (and £60 for non-members), which includes access to recordings of the presentations for 12 months.

The booking form is available at https://www.indexers.org.uk/events/conference-2024-human-indexing-in-a-digital-world/.

The conference main sessions and presenters are:

  • AI (artificial intelligence) tools in publishing and implications for indexing (George Walkley and Tanya Izzard)
  • Software: current states of play of the main dedicated indexing programs (Pierke Bosschieter and Stephen Ullstrom)
  • The Frankfurt Kabuff as creative publishing critique and its unusual index (Beth Driscoll, Claire Squires and Paula Clarke Bain)
  • Wikipedians: improving online information about indexing (Mary Coe and other indexer–Wikipedians)

Plus parallel breakout discussion sessions including:

  • client relations
  • embedded indexing
  • multi-author works
  • peer review
  • students and new professionals forum
  • time for free chat with indexing colleagues

The conference programme timetable is now available via the conference page at https://www.indexers.org.uk/training-development/conferences/conference-2024/.

Please join us at the SI 2024 online conference and on social media with the hashtag #SIConf24. We look forward to seeing you there.

ISC/SCI members can access the discount code in the member area.

2024 Tamarack Award: Alexandra Peace

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The Indexing Society of Canada / Société canadienne d’indexation (ISC/SCI) is pleased to announce the 2024 recipient of the Tamarack Award. Alexandra Peace (Canning, Nova Scotia) is being recognized for her contribution and commitment to the society.

Alexandra was chosen for her unflagging enthusiasm, endless willingness to help out, unwavering cheerfulness, and ability to see the promise in the rawest of volunteers.

Alexandra’s colleagues had the following to say about her:

  • “The scope of work that the effervescent Alex undertook during her presidency was staggering: she was dogged in her determination to document the roles and how-to handbooks for all the executive positions and the procedures to transition from one executive to another, enabling seamless transitions after elections. It was a passion project and transformation for the society.”
  • “Alex’s deep commitment to community engagement shines through everything she does. I’m guessing it is this that is at the base of her exuberance.”
  • “She is not just a ball of energy, but a ball of light. Always happy to answer a question or give a bit of feedback or helpful advice, even when she’s halfway across the world.”

“We are thrilled to present this award to Alexandra, and we are honoured to have her as a member of our society,” said Jolanta Komornicka and Maggie Billard, Co-Presidents. “Thank you, Alex, for all you have given to the society and its membership.” The Tamarack Award was instituted to recognize members who go “above and beyond the call of duty” in their volunteer work for the Society. Past recipients can be found on the website here: https://staging.indexers.ca/tamarack-award-2/

2024 Ewart-Daveluy Indexing Award

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The award committee did not present the Ewart-Daveluy Award in 2024.

The indexes submitted did some things very well and tackled the challenges of complex texts. Nonetheless, we agreed that none reached the level of consistent excellence that merits the award.

The committee doesn’t expect perfect indexes, but meeting most of the criteria is essential. All of these criteria are best practices that we should be applying in our indexing work. You can find them on the ISC/SCI’s website.

Take some time over the summer to review the criteria and make use of them in your upcoming projects. Then you’ll be well on your way to submit an index for the 2025 Ewart-Daveluy award.

The call for submissions for the 2025 award will come out in the fall. There are no restrictions to the subject matter or genre you can submit – we look at all kinds of books: textbooks, cookbooks, art books, how-to books, memoirs and more.

Show us how you have creatively overcome challenges, resulting in a well-structured, easy-to-navigate, clear, and comprehensive guide for all users.

François Trahan, coordinator 2024 ISC/SCI Ewart-Daveluy Indexing Award, Stephen Ullstrom and Heather Ebbs

What practices will help me with good index term selection?

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Term selection is a key factor that determines the quality and usability of an index. Good index terms are clear, concise, intuitive, meaningful, and accurate. But what practices will help you achieve these qualities in your indexing work?

In his article for The Indexer, Zhang Qiyu (indexer consultant and information management professor, Nanjing Institute of Politics Shanghai) dives deep into term selection, exploring what term selection means, how to identify what is and what is not indexable, and matters such as structure and design of the index. In the article, he identifies several key practices that will help you select terms for a useful and effective index.

1. Always keep user needs top of mind

Consider what is relevant to the text’s audience and how they might search for what they need. For example, does the term reflect current usage? Would a synonym or variant form be more intuitive for index users?

2. Be familiar with the subject area

Understanding the text and its purpose helps you select terms that appropriately reflect the contents and are suitable for the audience.

3. Reflect topics from the text alone

Do not add information to the index that is not in the text. Where possible, index terms should be identical to the text’s terms. However, at times you may need to use variants or alternative terms if more useful to index users.

4. Include both explicit and implicit topics

Consider the text from different angles. Are there significant unspoken meanings and relationships within the text that would be useful or illuminating for index users?

5. Make connections within the index structure

Using double-postings and cross-references among the terms creates multiple access points to information. These elements can assist a wider variety of users and reveal meaningful interconnections.

6. Eliminate clutter

The greater the range of items in the index, the more useful it will be for different users. However, index terms must lead to information that is substantive and relevant to the text’s subject, purpose, and audience. Indexing topics that are irrelevant or only mentioned in passing will obstruct efficient searching.

Read Zhang Qiyu’s full article for free in The Indexer: The International Journal of Indexing (Vol. 27, No. 3) at liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/10.3828/indexer.2009.32

Reminder of Submission Deadline: ISC/SCI Ewart-Daveluy Award for Excellence in Indexing 2024

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Submission deadline: Friday, March 15, 2024

Submissions are open! The application has never been easier.

  • It’s all online.
  • You don’t need a hard copy — a PDF of the published book AND/OR the PDF sent to you by the publisher plus your Word/RTF file of the index.
  • The cost is only $30.

The benefits:

  • The winner will receive two tickets to the conference banquet at the next in-person conference.
  • We provide feedback for up to three runners-up.

No restriction to the subject matter or genre — textbooks, cookbooks, guidebooks, memoirs, art books, how-to books, travel books, all books — it’s your index we will be looking at.

Show us how you creatively overcame challenges, resulting in an outstanding, well-structured, easy-to-navigate, clear and comprehensive guide for all of its users.

Give us a challenge. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Maybe you’ll get the prize (which won’t happen if you don’t apply). And if not, you’re likely to get expert confidential feedback. That’s worth a lot.

This year you can submit indexes published in 2022 and 2023. If you are a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident of Canada, this is the time to do it. If you are not a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, you may submit an index if you were a member of ISC/SCI at the time you wrote the index.

The deadline for submissions is March 15, 2024. Here are the guidelines, criteria, and the submission form.