In the winter edition of the Bulletin (vol. 37. no. 3), the ISC/SCI executive announced that plans were underway to help subsidize the costs of the Chicago joint conference for a number of lucky members. The details were finalized at the executive meeting on February 6.

Four eligible members will receive C$1,000 each, to be applied to conference costs. Two prizes will be for new members only—those who joined between January 1, 2014, and December 31, 2015—and two will be awarded to members who joined before 2014.

The draw will take place on or before March 27. Winners will be contacted by telephone. The subsidy will be mailed out after the deadline for refunds has been reached (June 1 or later) and upon receiving a copy of the member’s conference invoice as proof of registration.

How to Enter

To be eligible for the subsidy, you must be a member in good standing and have a Canadian address. (We apologize that at this time we are unable to offer this benefit to our international members.) Send an email to contests@indexers.ca using the subject line “Chicago Joint Conference Contest.” Include the following:

- your name

- your telephone number

- your email address

- the date you joined

The deadline for entering is midnight, March 24, 2016 (your local time).

Jennifer Hedges and Margaret de Boer, Co-presidents

Photo Credit:

“Link Bridge Pano” by David B. Gleason is licenced under CC by-SA 2.0

Dans l’édition d’hiver du Bulletin (vol. 37, no. 3), le bureau de direction de la SCI/ISC a révélé que la Société projetait d’offrir une aide financière à quatre membres – les heureux élus – pour leur permettre d’assister au congrès conjoint de Chicago. Les détails ont été finalisés lors de la réunion du bureau de direction du 6 février.

Quatre membres admissibles recevront chacun un prix de 1000 $ qu’ils devront utiliser pour défrayer une partie des frais engendrés par le congrès. Deux des prix seront attribués à de nouveaux membres – ceux qui se sont inscrits entre le 1er janvier 2014 et le 31 décembre 2015 – et les deux autres seront attribués à des membres qui se sont inscrits avant 2014.

Le tirage au sort aura lieu le 27 mars au plus tard. Les gagnants seront contactés par téléphone. Les prix seront envoyés par la poste, après la date d’échéance fixée pour les remboursements (1er juin ou après) et après avoir reçu une copie de la facture d’inscription au congrès.

Comment s’inscrire

Pour être admissible à recevoir une aide financière, vous devez être un membre en bonne et due forme de la société et résider au Canada (nous sommes au regret de ne pas pouvoir offrir ces aides à nos membres internationaux pour l’instant). Envoyez un courriel à contests@indexers.ca en indiquant comme objet : Concours du congrès conjoint de Chicago. Incluez dans votre courriel les renseignements suivants :

- Votre nom

- Votre numéro de téléphone

- Votre adresse électronique

- La date de votre inscription à la SCI/SCI

La date d’échéance pour déposer votre candidature est le 24 mars 2016, minuit (heure locale).

Jennifer Hedges et Margaret de Boer, co-présidentes

Crédit photo:

“Link Bridge Pano” par David B. Gleason est sous licence CC by-SA 2.0

March already? And here’s another issue of the Bulletin coming hot on the heels of the Fall/Winter issue. A new production schedule will bring news and updates to the membership in a more timely fashion. ISC/SCI board meetings occur three times a year, usually in early February, late May or early June, and October. The Bulletin will now come out about a month after each meeting, with Spring (March), Summer (late June/early July), and Fall/Winter (November) issues.

We are building up to the 2016 conference on June 16–18, “The Drama of Indexing.” The impressive lineup of speakers and topics can be found on pages x and x—it will be hard to choose which concurrent session to attend! In addition to society news found in the executive and regional reports, this issue includes another lively review by Boyd Holmes, some tips for new indexers on how to build a great portfolio, and some perks of joining a MACREX discussion group. You will also notice that this is the first issue in about ten years to host advertisers—a trend I hope will continue in future issues.

The members’ logo is now available for download from the ISC/SCI website. Display it proudly on your website, in your email signature, or on other promotional material. All submissions for the 2016 Ewart-Daveluy award are in, and the committee is now faced with the difficult task of selecting a winner.

Many people don’t realize how important a constitution is to an organization. Far too often it is written without much creative thought and then filed away somewhere to collect dust. A properly designed constitution is one of the most important tools for guiding an organization; it should be the most dog-eared document in its possession. Ideally the constitution starts with a clear vision of the world the organization is striving for—a very broad, overarching statement. This is followed by a mission statement containing specific goals that expand on how the organization plans to achieve this vision. It has often been said that a clearly defined vision and the mission that arises from it increase opportunities for an organization’s success and encourage an engaged membership. The forging of a clear and concise vision statement for ISC/SCI is something worth becoming passionate about.

As always, I welcome submissions for future editions of the Bulletin. If you have an idea for an article, have read something interesting, disagree with something, or just have some thoughts you would like to share, feel free to contact me at andrea@wordtapestries.com.

Andrea Hatley

April 2016

ISC/SCI Central Canada is meeting in the Toronto Reference Library, 789 Yonge Street, Rm B1, on Saturday, April 9, from 2:00–4:00pm. Contact Siusan Moffat for more information.

ISC/SCI Eastern Canada is meeting on Wednesday, April 6, in Montréal, QC. Contact Alexandra Peace for details.

May 2016

A meeting is tentatively scheduled for ISC/SCI Eastern Canada in New Brunswick. Contact Alexandra Peace for more information.

ISC/SCI Central Canada is meeting on Saturday, May 21. Contact Siusan Moffat for more information.

June 2016

“The Drama of Indexing,” joint ASI and ISC/SCI conference, Chicago, Illinois, June 16–18. Visit indexers.ca/annual-conference/ for details and the conference schedule. To register, visit: www.asindexing.org/conference-2016/2016-conference-registration-form/.

“Correction Connection,” Editors’ Association of Canada conference, Vancouver, BC, June 10-12. Visit www.editors.ca/conference/index.html for details and updates.

The Chicago joint conference in June will be the third joint conference with ASI in this century. We have also had joint conferences with EAC, most recently in 2011 and 2013. The previous conferences with ASI were in Toronto in 2006 and Vancouver in 2003. The Chicago conference will be the first to be held in the US.

As Gwen Henson, executive director of ASI, said early in the negotiations for 2016, the goal of a joint conference is to create “a truly memorable conference with international flavour. We like the idea of pooling our volunteer resources, networking with our Canadian colleagues, and celebrating our industry together.”

Mary Newberry and François Trahan are our representatives in the planning of this year’s conference. Several Canadian members and ex-members are presenting sessions, including Cheryl Caballero, indexer with the Ontario Legislature; Louise Saint-André and a team comprising Margaret de Boer, Mary Newberry, Anna Olivier, Alexandra Peace, and François Trahan; and Meral Alakus. Mary will make a second appearance in a session with Lee Berry on indexing oral history.

Joint conferences require a lot of planning to be successful from the viewpoint of both societies, and any number of unknowns could have an impact on members’ decisions to attend. At the time of the joint conference in 2003, Toronto was one of three cities in the world still on the World Health Organization’s list of SARS-infected areas. Had our conference been planned for Toronto instead of Vancouver, it might have had to be cancelled. Certainly, members of both societies would have hesitated to go.

Unfortunately, between the time the decision was made to hold this joint conference and the present, the value of the Canadian dollar has declined. If the main obstacle to committing to the 2016 conference is cost, then we are hoping the possibility of winning one of four conference subsidies of $1,000 each will encourage members to attend.

Le congrès qui se tiendra à Chicago en juin sera le troisième congrès conjoint avec l’ASI de ce siècle. Nous avons également organisé des congrès conjoints avec l’ACR, les plus récents datant de 2011 et de 2013. Les derniers congrès que nous avions organisés de pair avec l’ASI ont eu lieu à Toronto, en 2006, et à Vancouver, en 2003. Le congrès de Chicago sera le premier à avoir lieu aux États-Unis.

Comme l’a déclaré Gwen Henson, directrice générale de l’ASI, au début des négociations sur le congrès de 2016, l’objectif d’un congrès conjoint est de créer « un congrès réellement inoubliable avec un petit parfum international. Nous sommes ravis de pouvoir mettre en commun nos ressources en matière de bénévolat, de dialoguer avec nos collègues canadiens et de célébrer notre profession ensemble. »

Mary Newberry et François Trahan sont nos représentants au sein de l’équipe de planification du congrès de cette année. Plusieurs membres et ex-membres canadiens feront des présentations, y compris Cheryl Caballero, indexeure travaillant pour l’Assemblée législative de l’Ontario; Louise Saint-André et une équipe composée de Margaret de Boer, Mary Newberry, Anna Olivier, Alexandra Peace, François Trahan; et Meral Alakus. Mary fera une deuxième apparition lors d’une présentation en collaboration avec Lee Berry sur l’indexation dans le domaine de l’histoire orale.

De grands efforts de planification sont requis pour organiser un congrès conjoint que les deux sociétés estimeront réussi et de nombreux facteurs qui ne sont pas toujours sous notre contrôle peuvent avoir un impact sur la décision d’un membre de s’inscrire ou non. Au moment du congrès de 2003, Toronto était l’une des trois villes au monde qui figurait encore sur la liste des zones infectées par le virus du SRAS émise par l’Organisation mondiale de la santé. Si nous avions prévu d’organiser notre congrès à Toronto au lieu de Vancouver, nous aurions peut-être été obligés de l’annuler. Bon nombre de membres des deux sociétés auraient, sans aucun doute, hésité à y participer.

Malheureusement, entre le moment où nous avons décidé d’organiser ce congrès conjoint et aujourd’hui, la valeur du dollar canadien a beaucoup baissé. Si certains d’entre vous hésitent à s’inscrire au congrès 2016 pour des raisons financières, nous espérons que la chance de gagner l’un des quatre prix d’un montant de 1000 $ chacun vous fera changer d’avis.

Executive members strive to make ISC/SCI the best that it can be. Some highlights of the recent executive meeting on February 6 outline what we are currently working on.

Our constitution committee presented a report on the work they have been doing on necessary amendments, including our structure, developing vision and mission statements, the roles of executive members, elections, and terms of office. In particular, we had a lengthy discussion about the creation of a vision statement. Currently executive members are corresponding through the executive listserv and fleshing out what this vision might look like. Stay tuned.

Our conference committee reported that they are busy collaborating with our American indexing cousins—the theme this year is “The Drama of Indexing.” The venue has been booked, the presenters have been selected, and the schedule is set. Now it’s your turn to register!

Every organization sets a budget for its coming year, and at February’s meeting we discussed the upcoming budget for our fiscal year, which runs from April 1 to March 31. Our finances are healthy and extra funds have been stored away in GICs. In particular, for the past several meetings we’ve grappled with what to do with the surpluses from the past couple of conferences. Out of those discussions we’ve established the upcoming conference subsidy of $1,000 each for four lucky registrants. The exchange rate may have given some members second thoughts about going to Chicago, but we hope that this incentive may spur you to register for another inspiring conference and win one of the subsidies.

Other surplus funds are being directed to other initiatives that are all currently under discussion and development. One initiative is webinars. The ISC/SCI executive has found that spending funds on professional development for our members is always a worthy endeavour. One of the driving forces toward webinar development is that it will reach all of our members, not just those geographically close to local meetings. Do you have any other initiative ideas? Let us know!

Our website has undergone some additions and enhancements. Under “Find an Indexer,” indexers are now listed by specialty rather than alphabetically. In addition, updated logos are now available for download for member use.

Our archives committee continues to sift through ideas of what to retain and how to maintain and make accessible important past records, including conference photos. What vessel online could best be utilized to serve this purpose? This work is ongoing. It’s a huge project!

Our next meeting will be held on June 16, the day before the conference begins, in Chicago. Please contact us if you have ideas or answers to some of the issues we’re currently working on. We’d love to hear from you and get you involved.

See you in Chicago!

Les membres du bureau de direction aspirent à aider la SCI/ISC à atteindre son plein potentiel. Certains points saillants de la réunion du bureau de direction du 6 février illustrent ce sur quoi nous travaillons à l’heure actuelle.

Les membres de notre comité constitutionnel ont présenté un rapport sur le travail qu’ils ont accompli concernant les amendements à mettre en œuvre, y compris ceux à notre structure, l’élaboration de notre vision et d’énoncé de mission, le rôle des membres de la direction, les élections et la durée des mandats. Nous avons, plus particulièrement, discuté de manière approfondie de la création d’un énoncé de vision. À l’heure actuelle, les membres du bureau de direction communiquent par l’entremise de la liste de diffusion de la direction et travaillent à l’élaboration de cette vision. Restez à l’écoute.

Les membres de notre comité responsable du congrès ont signalé qu’ils travaillaient en ce moment en collaboration avec leurs cousins indexeurs américains – le thème de cette année étant The Drama of Indexing. Le centre de congrès a été réservé, les présentateurs ont été sélectionnés et l’horaire a été fixé. Il ne reste plus qu’à vous inscrire!

Chaque organisation se fixe un budget pour l’année et nous avons discuté du budget de l’année fiscale à venir, qui s’étendra du 1er avril au 31 mars. Nous disposons de saines finances et l’excédent de fonds a été investi dans des CPG. Nous avons, au cours de nos dernières réunions, éprouvé quelques difficultés à décider comment allouer l’excédent de fonds résultant des derniers congrès. Suite à ces discussions, nous avons décidé d’offrir des prix individuels de 1000 $ chacun à quatre membres – les heureux élus – inscrits au congrès. Il est probable que le taux de change ait donné matière à réfléchir à certains d’entre vous en ce qui concerne le congrès de Chicago, mais nous espérons que la possibilité de gagner l’un de ces prix vous incitera à vous inscrire à un congrès passionnant et que vous serez l’un des heureux gagnants.

Une partie des fonds excédentaires a été réservée pour d’autres initiatives qui sont actuellement en cours d’étude et de développement. L’une de ces initiatives concerne l’élaboration de webinaires. Le bureau de direction de la SCI/ISC a indiqué que l’investissement de fonds dans le développement professionnel de nos membres portait toujours ses fruits. L’une des raisons principales justifiant le développement de webinaires est que nous pourrions ainsi toucher l’ensemble de nos membres et non pas simplement ceux qui sont géographiquement proches des lieux de réunion. Avez-vous d’autres idées concernant ces initiatives? Si oui, n’hésitez pas à les partager avec nous!

Nous avons apporté quelques améliorations et fait de petits ajouts à notre site Web. Sous l’onglet « Trouvez un indexeur », les indexeurs sont maintenant classés par spécialisation plutôt que par ordre alphabétique. Les membres pourront également à présent télécharger et utiliser nos logos qui ont été actualisés.

Le comité responsable de nos archives continue à se pencher sur la question de ce qu’il faut conserver et de la manière de conserver et d’accéder à d’anciens documents importants, y compris des photos de congrès. Quel outil pourrions-nous utiliser en ligne pour atteindre cet objectif? Ce travail continue. C’est un projet énorme!

Notre prochaine réunion aura lieu le 16 juin, le jour précédant le début du congrès de Chicago. N’hésitez-pas à nous écrire si vous avez des idées ou des réponses concernant certaines questions que nous traitons en ce moment. Nous serions ravis d’avoir de vos nouvelles et de votre participation.

À bientôt à Chicago!

Thursday, June 16

9:00am–5:00pm Newbies Class (Enid Zafran)

1:00pm–4:00pm SCI/ISC Board Meeting

4:00pm–5:00pm International Representatives Meeting

7:00pm– 9:00pm Pub Crawl!

Friday, June 17

9:00am–10:00am Mentoring Tank – New indexers looking for a mentor present their skills to a panel

10:00am–10:15am Break

10:15am–11:30am Keynote

Larry Sweazy, indexer and award-winning author, talks to us about the writing and indexing life.

11:30am–12noon Split Sessions

Aspects of Quality Control for Indexes in South Africa — Jenny De Wet

Can You Hear Me Now? Tips for Running a Virtual Meeting — Jane Plass

An Introduction to Taxonomies and Thesauri — Heather Hedden

12noon–1:00pm Lunch Break

1:00pm–2:15pm Split Sessions

Dealing with Diacritics and Symbols in an Index — Gale Rhoades

Engage & Work It! Marketing & Collaborating Strategies for Indexers — Paul R. Sweum & Lisa DeBoer

Enter the Matrix: eBook Indexing (The Matrix Group, Int’l.) — Jan Wright, Glenda Browne, Pilar Wyman

2:15pm–2:30pm Break

2:30pm–3:45pm Split Sessions

Engage & Work It! (continued)

Enter the Matrix (continued)

Case Study of a Bilingual, Multi-Volume Team-Based Indexing Project — Louise St. André with Margaret de Boer, Mary Newberry, Alexandra Peace, and François Trahan

3:45pm–4:00pm Break

4:00pm–5:30pm Split Sessions

Multiple Entry Points: Variants and Cross-References in Indexes and Thesauri — Heather Hedden & John Magee

A Distributed, Modular Workflow to Indexing textProgrambooks — David K. Ream and David Leistensnider

Business Development from the Inside Out — Lydia Jones with Sharon Woodhouse, Kira Henschel, and Gail Zelitzky

***7:00pm Awards Dinner*** (off site)

Saturday, June 18

9:00am–10:00am Your Day in Court. Indexers and their clients bring contentious issues in front of an experienced judge

10:00am–10:15am Break

10:15am–11:15am Annual General Meetings for ASI and ISC/SCI (held consecutively)

11:15am–12:15pm Split Sessions

IXMLembedder: Index Entry Embedding Software — David K. Ream

Genesis of a Moonlighting Indexer — Meg Daniel

Everlasting Civilizations Rely Upon Information Management: Indexing the World Knowledge — Meral Alakus

12:15pm–1:15pm Lunch

1:15pm–2:45pm Split Sessions

MACREX: Power and Flexibility at Your Fingertips — Gale Rhoades

Publishers’ Roundtable — John Magee and Dena Shorago

To Textbooks, With Love — Leoni McVey

2:45pm–3:00pm Break

3:00pm–4:30pm Split Sessions

MACREX: Power and Flexibility at Your Fingertips (continued) — Gale Rhoades

Sky Indexing Software — S. Anne Fifer

Index File Submission with CINDEX™ — Maria Sullivan

4:30pm–4:45pm Break

4:45pm–6:00pm Split Sessions

Accessible Web Indexes – Design for Those with Disabilities — Cheryl Caballero

Indexing Oral History — Lee Berry (Chemical Heritage Foundation) and Mary Newberry (Harbord Village Oral History Project)

Specificity: A Case of the Missing Granularity — Fred Leise

The Wonky World of Style Sheets — Paul R. Sweum

7:00pm onward Reception at conference center

**Please note, the conference schedule is subject to change. **

Images of conference presenters provided courtesy of ASI–ISC/SCI conference organizers.

New indexers are told that you need eight clients in order to have a business you can live on. When you are starting out, it’s hard to imagine that you can get even one client. The usual advice? Use your contacts in the industry. And if you don’t have any contacts, consider pro bono ... and by the way, do some practice indexes before you attempt to work for anyone.

Pro bono and practice indexes are good ideas in theory. I will show how you can use this advice to its maximum effect to increase your success in attracting new clients. All it takes is execution with a bit of psychology.

Pro Bono—For the Right Reasons

When lawyers do pro bono work, everyone understands their motivation. After all, pro bono publico means “for the good of the public.” When you, as an indexer or any other creative type, make an offer to work pro bono, don’t offer your skills just to get a reference or experience. When your motivation is all about you, your prospective clients will struggle to make sense of your offer. It won’t have the altruistic vibe they are used to feeling. If they have no relationship with you, you will appear desperate, and desperation is like a dark cloud hanging over your head. It smacks of failure. If you are not convinced about this, ask yourself what you would think of a lawyer who works pro bono “for the experience.”

Instead, make your pro bono offers only for causes that you believe in and support. Your prospective client will feel that your offer is natural and generous, and you will look (and feel) rich in generosity and confident in your ability. Don’t even hint at asking for a reference in return (at least, not until it’s finished).

Now, thanks to crowd-sourcing, there are more ways than ever for people to offer their skills for free. The Kickstarter website, for instance, has a category just for publishing projects. Whether or not you are one, try looking into what the millennials are up to. As a demographic, they are all about giving to the community. In fact, they expect businesses to do the same.

Practice Portfolio Indexes

What describes a successful indexer? I think most people would say, “It’s someone who has a lot of experience”—in other words, someone who has written a lot of indexes. While you are waiting for new clients, go ahead and write your practice indexes. But don’t call them practice indexes. These are your portfolio indexes, and you should write them with a deliberate approach.

To start, choose a book that has no index, or a poor index. Used-book stores are full of these. Don’t fall for picking a book with a reasonable index so that you can compare your version to the “professional” one. That would be a waste of time and a distraction. Besides, you already know what a good index is supposed to look like.

Sit down and write the world’s best index for that book. Do the meticulous research and the deep, focused thinking you learned in your training. When you get stuck, reread your textbooks and reference books. If you find your collection is inadequate, order more—perhaps from the “Index It Right” series (www.asindexing.org/index-it-right/). Experiment with different approaches to editing and formatting. Take as long as you need to get it perfect.

Now take your perfect, professional index and post it on your website, under a heading such as “Sample Work” or “Portfolio.” Then find another book and repeat. Pick books in your target genres, and include hard ones. Gradually you will build a rich portfolio that shows to prospective clients your breadth and depth of experience. And your skills will be sharpened.

What makes a portfolio so effective? For one thing, the world doesn’t hand you opportunities before you are ready for them. Building a portfolio of indexes makes you ready and provides evidence of your skills. The other benefit is the boost of confidence you get from your deliberate, focused practice.

Does it matter that your portfolio indexes will never be published? I believe that clients don’t care—or they don’t notice. Clients want to feel comfortable that your experience is a good match for their book. It’s understood that you will act professionally in your business dealings with them.

“Do pro bono work” and “Create practice indexes” have always been sound pieces of advice. I’ve shown how you can utilize them in a way that achieves so much more than just “getting started.” When you blow off that cloud of desperation and build skills, experience, and confidence, you become a front-running candidate for the next great book that needs an index.

JoAnne Burek

JoAnne Burek is a fairly new indexer who was working on her eighth portfolio index when she landed her first paid commission, a 400-page scholarly book.

I’ve been using MACREX since 1983 and started providing support (on various levels) to users in North America soon after that. In addition to the three-day workshops I present—the first day is titled “Play Day” so that everyone is relaxed and ready to focus on an information dump over the next two days—a few years ago a small group joined me to start what is officially known as MACREX Office Hours. More commonly it is referred to as “Chet Chat,” in honour of the teenager who helped me set up the first platform.

We gather twice a week (Tuesdays and Fridays) for about an hour, for discussions that run the gamut of information from tips for MACREX, Windows, word processors, and many other programs to indexing principles and standards, to the weather, and to the activities of the participants. The composition of each session varies depending on workload and life events, but usually there are 10 to 12 participants. (All of this is background for the next couple of paragraphs.)

One of the great truths that I have discovered about indexers who use MACREX is what I call “finger memory.” It has long been my suspicion that this is the primary force behind the amazing speed with which indexes are written and invoices are generated. Finger memory allows indexers to think only about the content and structure of the index as their fingers fly across the keys, rarely leaving the home row of the keyboard.

As an aid to building finger memory (and to help ensure that each session has a lively focus), most sessions begin with a “Quiz of the Day.” In the examples below, the answer follows each question. This is not what happens in a chat; rather, the answers evolve from the discussions between the participants (including long-time and newer users), interwoven with indexing philosophy, ergonomics, and mutual support.

QUESTION: What is flipping?

ANSWER: Swapping the position of two or more heading levels, e.g., “cats, and dogs” will become “dogs, and cats.”

Q: How is flipping performed?

A: <ctrl>Z or F3 for Full Flip; <shift><ctrl>C or F2 for Half Flip; <ctrl>B or F4 for Rotate (more than two levels); <ctrl>O for Invert. There is usually a discussion about <ctrl> character commands versus function keys.

Q: What are the four commas of MACREX?

A: (1) Hard, between headings [comma in blue square]. (2) Soft, within a heading [coloured comma in white square]. (3) Before the locators [comma in pink square]. (4) Between the locators [comma in white square].

Q: Why do commas matter?

A: A trained eye will spot anomalies without conscious thought.

Q: How do you switch between indented and run-on layout?

A: Load a Layout Definition File.

Q: What is the Definition File mantra?

A: Load, Change, Save to Named File, Make DEFAULT, Use.

Q: What is the TOA?

A: Table of Authority, or auto-complete.

Q: How do you update an index?

A: Work in PNO (PageNumberOrder) or group on locator.

Q: What is the speediest method for adding diacritics?

A: Record a macro for {[]}←← so that you can type a letter, run the macro, type the symbol, and press <alt>↓ or <end> to continue.

It is a rare session in which even seasoned users do not discover (or recover) knowledge that speeds the completion of indexing projects. Over time, the networking expands the skills of all participants. As an added benefit, the participants become aware of good candidates to take on overflow projects. For information about joining Macrex Office Hours, send an email to macrexna@gmail.com.

Gale Rhoades

The title is startling, the subtitle accurate, the essay excellent. Dennis Duncan’s article—at once argument and historical narrative—is one of the rare pieces on indexing in which it is the general reader, and not the indexer, who is the principal intended audience. Duncan speaks with authority: he is a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for the Study of the Book at Oxford University and is, as I write, at work on a comprehensive history of the English book index.

The contents of the essay may already be familiar to some of his British readers; an earlier version was presented as a lecture on March 23, 2015, at the Oxford Literary Festival.

Duncan starts with a story of the lawyer and poet William King, who in 1698 began a “vogue for the index as an instrument of political warfare,” a tradition that continued through the reign of Queen Anne (1702–14) and past the ascension of George I. King’s immediate document was an ironic, comic, and vindictive four-page index added to the second edition of a polemic, specifically that of a book (by a different author) concerning the librarian to William III. (Hazel Bell reprints the index in her anthology Indexers and Indexing in Fact and Fiction, though Bell, unlike Duncan, does not describe King’s clever play in his index on the word asinine. I will not repeat it here.)

King’s dark act set a pattern for political attacks in Britain—all done through book indexes—that concluded only in 1718. As told by Duncan in just two thousand words, the story somehow manages to encompass the historian Laurence Echard, an election for Speaker of the House of Commons of England, the Royal Society, and the essayist Joseph Addison. I do not want to reveal further facts or how the tale turns out; the ending is worth as much as the narrative. Think of the mystery novel. For me, H.F. Heard’s A Taste for Honey (1941) holds fast as one of the smartest such books written, but in a review I would be reluctant to provide much of the story. The joy of the chronicle lies as much in the unfolding of the plot as it does in its denouement.

Duncan seems to see the “weaponised index” (his term) as a popular trend of its time. But how popular? I have just consulted a handful of contemporary English book indexes published under Anne. Most have no slant. The one to William Salmon’s The English Herbal (1710) contains nothing in common with King’s; it is in fact an exhaustive and necessary addendum to what was already a work of genius. In the shade of Salmon’s I found staid, fair, and detailed indexes to the Bibliothecae Americanae Primordia (1713) and The British Empire in America (1708).

Other indexes proved hilarious in parts, likely without intent. One entry I enjoyed was from a 1708 translation, The General History of All Voyages and Travels Throughout the Old and New World: “Serpents of several Sorts describ’d of which the Indians make Ragouts.” Sadly, there is not enough space here to record the index subheadings for “Stones” in the second edition of Robert Plot’s The Natural History of Oxford-Shire (1705); I can only promise that a hunt for the book will be worth it. But at least both indexes are honest ones, unsoiled by conscious bias. The mocking, malicious index was, I suspect, as uncommon three centuries ago as it is today.

Yet the potential results remain the same. The weaponized index can be both funny in execution and horrible in outcome (only the humour is preserved with temporal distance). This is the core that King understood and Duncan conveys. It is the reason why this essay matters, why it operates as larger than ephemeral entertainment. As with language itself, an index is a moral document. Its creation is an ethical act. First principles before all others—if we do not grasp these two truths, we know nothing.

Boyd Holmes

“A Correction Connection”: Editors Canada 2016 National Conference (June 10–12, Vancouver)

Want to connect with hundreds of editors, writers, and communication professionals? Plan to attend the Editors Canada 2016 national conference, June 10–12, at the Coast Plaza Hotel and Suites in Vancouver.

“A Correction Connection” is a weekend of events and sessions led by experienced presenters and panellists from across Canada. Speakers include representatives from both print and online publishing as well as government, corporate, and non-profit communications experts. The conference is open to Editors Canada members and non-members alike, and all attendees can take advantage of the networking opportunities, be it renewing old acquaintances or making new ones.

The conference will open with a keynote address from Mary Norris. Mary began working at the New Yorker in 1978 and has been a query proofreader at the magazine since 1993. She has written for “The Talk of the Town” section and for newyorker.com, where she is best known for her pieces on pencils and punctuation. Her first book is Between You and Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen (Norton, 2015).

The conference ends with a keynote speech from Bill Walsh. Bill is a night copy editor at the Washington Post. He also blogs at The Slot, tweets as @TheSlot, and is the author of three books about language: Yes, I Could Care Less; The Elephants of Style; and Lapsing into a Comma.

Make 2016 the year you join us! Visit www.editors.ca/conference to register or for more information.

Michelle Ou

Communications Manager

Editors’ Association of Canada

In a Taxing State of Mind

For freelancers, two dates are important with respect to income tax: April 30, when any money due has to be paid, and June 15, when the return has to be filed. But in order to know how much you owe, you have to complete your return, so I could never see any advantage to using the June filing date.

If you find yourself short at the end of April, pay the most you can and then continue to make payments until it is paid up. You will get charged 5% interest on any amounts unpaid after May 1. If you owe more than $3,000 in taxes, the CRA (Canada Revenue Agency) requires that you make quarterly instalment payments based on your previous year’s return; they will inform you of the due dates and the amounts owing. Make sure you have filed your return by June 15, or you will get dinged an additional late-filing penalty of 5% of your balance owing, plus 1% of the balance owing for each full month your return is late. That can add up.

Using the CRA’s My Payment and My Business Account portals to send money to the government couldn’t be easier. The CRA has agreements with most of the large banks and credit unions, so there is no additional cost other than your normal bank transaction fees. The My Business Account portal also allows you to view the status of and make adjustments to your account. To use these services, you will need a CRA business number (your GST/HST number) and you have to register on the CRA website for a My Business Account. Once you have completed the online application, a CRA security code will be sent to you in the mail (yes, in an actual letter) and should arrive within five to ten days. Upon receipt, you log in to your My Business Account page and enter the code, and then you have full access to all your tax-related (including GST/HST) information.

Andrea Hatley

Photo Credit:

The Tax Collector, “Jan Massys Le collecteur d’impôts” is licenced under the Creative Commons Attribution-SA 3.0 Unported, 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic and 1.0 Generic licence.

Vice-president’s Report

ISC/SCI Logo

We now have logos for members’ use. Rayola has supplied us with logos for 2016 through 2020, in three formats and two sizes for each. We hope that this will cover all possible uses by members. Stephen Ullstrom has the 2016 and 2017 sets for his current term and I’ll forward the subsequent sets to whoever should have them. Once the policy for logo use is finalized, I will deal with the French version.

2016 Conference

Things are moving along and are mostly being done by ASI, although I’m dealing with about half of the presenters. The program is set (though changing slightly as we go) and registration has been open since late December. The program has been on our website since that time, with a link to the ASI registration page.

In other news, I joined the Constitution Committee last October.

François Trahan

Past President’s Report

François Trahan, with whom I share the ISC/SCI 2016 conference position, has taken on that responsibility for the past few months. Thank you, François. Otherwise, I have answered queries from Jennifer Hedges, who has been doing a wonderful job as senior president, and from Margaret de Boer, her very able co-president. And I continue to distribute the mail, which is much reduced as we now have online payments.

With great pleasure and interest I’ve attended the well-organized regional meetings in Toronto—many thanks to Siusan Moffat, the Central Canada representative. My small role has been to arrange for the meeting spaces (sometimes with much prodding from Siusan).

Since I seem to be in a thankful frame of mind, I’ll take a moment to express my gratitude for this organization. To work in this so solitary endeavour and yet to be connected across this large country is extraordinary. I’m also trying to improve the experience for those who attend the meetings remotely, with possibly better sound. We'll see (or hear).

Mary Newberry

Treasurer’s Report

As of January 26, 2016, the financial statement of the Society is as follows.

- Everyday Business Chequing Account: $26,275.02

- Guaranteed Investment Certificate: $5,261.90 (interest rate 0.9%; locked in until July 20, 2017)

- Security Guaranteed Investment Certificate Plus: $5,255.83 (interest rate fluctuates; locked in until October 14, 2017)

The budget and actual spending for 2015–16:

2015

Budget

Actuals Apr–Dec*

Income

Membership fees

11,500

7,920

Conference revenue

12,000

13,627

Find an Indexer fees

3,200

2,800

Misc. income (pins, books)

50

25

Interest income

125

Total Income

26,875

24,372

Expenses

Membership (incl. Directory)

50

24

Conference expenses

12,000

4,411

Executive expenses:

Meeting costs & telephone

500

Executive travel

1,000

112

International liaison travel

2,000

Bulletin

350

325

The Indexer

6,000

7,278

Website and mail lists

3,000

1,479

Operating expenses:

Office supplies

50

28

Postage & delivery

50

37

Bank charges

150

PayPal fees

750

337

Regional groups

400

500

Volunteers, honours & awards

500

Outside services

300

229

Translation

1,000

610

Promotion

250

111

Miscellaneous expenses

50

Total expenses

28,400

15,481

Income less expenses

-1,525

8,891

* Jan 1 to Mar 31, 2016, actuals to be added

The next table is the budget proposal for the 2016–17 fiscal year. These are preliminary numbers, and I would like to hear your concerns in order to make necessary corrections.

Conference revenue equals expenses. This year we rely on our ASI partners, who will provide actual numbers after the end of the conference.

The Indexer subscription went up with the falling loonie. I increased budget for the Bulletin as requested at the last meeting. Finally, I included the travel assistance subsidy in the “Volunteers, honours & awards” category.

2016–2017 Budget

Income

Membership fees

12,000

Conference revenue

12,000

Find an Indexer fees

3,100

Misc. income (pins, books)

50

Interest income

125

Total Income

27,275

Expenses

Membership (incl. Directory)

50

Conference expenses

12,000

Executive expenses:

Meeting costs & telephone

300

Executive travel

1,000

International liaison travel

2,000

Bulletin

600

The Indexer

7,200

Website and mail lists

3,000

Operating expenses:

Office supplies

50

Postage & delivery

50

Bank charges

100

PayPal fees

600

Regional groups

400

Volunteers, honours & awards

4,000

Outside services

0

Translation

1,000

Promotion

200

Miscellaneous expenses

50

Total expenses

32,600

Income less expenses

-5,325

As you can see, we are running a deficit, but don’t get confused. We have plenty of cash in our accounts to cover expenses.

Sergey Lobachev

Membership Report

As of February 22, 2016, we have 101 members. Five new members have joined since October’s report; seven members did not renew in December 2015; and ten members have not responded to renewal reminders (they are not included here).

Within Canada

95

British Columbia

27

Alberta

6

Saskatchewan

1

Manitoba

2

Ontario

49

Quebec

7

New Brunswick

1

Prince Edward Island

1

Nova Scotia

1

Outside Canada

6

United States

5

Latvia

1

Membership Types

Individual

94

Listed

63

Basic

27

Student

2

Emeritus

2

Institutional

7

British Columbia

1

Alberta

1

Ontario

3

USA

2

New Members

The following members have joined since the previous report:

Inge Wiesen, Great Neck, NY

Sarah McIntosh, Salt Spring Island, BC

Catherine Plear, Vancouver, BC

Paula Butler, Toronto, ON

Olga Sushinsky, Toronto, ON

Frances Robinson

Constitutional Committee Report

After constitutional changes for housekeeping reasons were ratified by the membership at the AGM in Halifax in 2013, a small committee was formed to make a more thorough review of our constitution. After a few starts and stops, the review got fully under way last year. The committee presently consists of Heather Ebbs (chair), François Trahan, Gillian Watts, and Andrea Hatley.

We feel that formal and legalistic language isn’t necessary. Our constitution is essentially to aid in the organization and running of ISC/SCI, but there is a fair bit of overlap and repetition, and the intent behind some provisions is unclear. At the February 2016 executive meeting, the committee received executive approval for a major restructuring of the document to eliminate duplication and ensure clarity.

In addition to the restructuring, two significant changes will be incorporated into the revised constitution. One is the addition of an objective relating to professional development for indexers. The other is to make the wording around executive roles flexible enough that two individuals can serve either as co-presidents or as a president and vice-president.

The revised constitution will, of course, be brought to the members for review and ratification.

Heather Ebbs, on behalf of the committee

Bulletin Editor’s Report

The PDF version of the Winter :: Hiver 2015–16 issue (vol. 37, no. 3) of the Bulletin was ready for distribution on January 15, 2016. The total cost for printing and postage was $144.18.

Three EPUB versions—fixed-layout (for iPad), MOBI (for Kindle), and reflowable EPUB—were ready for distribution on January 22. Formatting the Bulletin as an EPUB using InDesign involved a bit of a learning curve and it took more time than anticipated. For the next issue the EPUB versions should be ready for distribution at the same time as the PDF.

There were no responses to my request for proofreading the EPUB versions, so they were released as beta or test versions. After they were posted, I did notice several small errors and a couple of design glitches, but nothing major. The crossword was not included in the EPUB, as it is not in an interactive format . . . yet! Heather has indicated that she is interested in and will explore the possibility of creating the crossword as an interactive piece.

I will be soliciting the indexing software providers and other potential advertisers for the upcoming issue.

I would like to move up the production schedule and distribution dates to follow closer to the board meetings. I suggest the following.

Spring issue (vol. 38, no. 1): mid to end of March (lots of time to promote the conference)

Summer issue (vol. 38, no. 2): end of June to mid July

Fall/Winter (vol. 38, no. 3) mid to end of November (this avoids the holiday season)

I’m looking for help with content. I would like to do a running hot-topics-on-the-lists section, and the member profiles discussed at the last meeting. I don’t have time to do either of these but I think they would be great additions. I am open to other suggestions.

I would like to thank the Bulletin board—Gillian Watts, François Trahan, and Sylvia Siemens—for their invaluable help in putting the newsletter together, and also to web administrator Stephen Ullstrom, for his patience with my repeated requests to repost yet another “final” version (sigh).

Andrea Hatley

International Liaison Report

Things are very quiet on the international front. ANZSI doesn’t have a conference this year, and SI is having just a one-day conference, in Birmingham on September 13, 2016.

ASI’s conference is, of course, in conjunction with ours in Chicago from June 16 to 18. An informal meeting of ICRIS (International Committee of Representatives of Indexing Societies) will be held there.

All the societies have approved the minor changes made to the International Agreement at the triennial meeting in York last September, and the revised version is up on the ICRIS website: www.theindexer.org/icris/agreement.htm.

Heather Ebbs, International Liaison

Web Administrator’s Report

At our last ISC/SCI executive meeting I was asked to look into ways to increase traffic to the Find an Indexer section of the website. One action completed on this issue was that the first tab that appears on the landing page for the section was changed from the “Indexers by Name” list to the “Indexers by Subjects” list. This should make it easier for potential clients to find indexers by subject and to make access to all listed indexers more equitable, as those with a surname near the end of the alphabet won’t be hidden at the bottom of the list. I am not sure, though, if this has indeed increased traffic or accessibility to this section.

I also looked into improving the website’s SEO (search-engine optimization). The word from David Hathaway, our web support person, is that overall our SEO is already pretty good. Apparently it is not possible with the SEO program we use, Yoast, to get so granular as to optimize each individual profile. I haven’t followed up further on this, though I can.

I was also asked at the last meeting to look into storage options for previously designed ISC/SCI documents and photos. Looking at this action item, I have to admit that I can’t remember which documents we were talking about, and thus how much space we would need. Other questions that come to mind are: Would some of these documents and photos eventually be moved to the ISC/SCI archives? If so, would they then be moved to a different location and no longer affect the storage space for this particular set of documents? Also, Heather has posted last year’s conference photos on Flickr. Will photos continue to be on Flickr for display while also being stored centrally here? If we go with a cloud-based storage option, how important is encryption? I am not sure of the encryption capabilities of the options below, but this can be investigated.

As for options, a few thoughts come to mind. I think a cloud-based option would be best. If one person were in charge of receiving and organizing the files, then being on the cloud would make it easier to hand off control to another person when that time comes. It could also make it easier for others to add directly to the files under the direction of the person overseeingthe storage.

- Dropbox: The free version offers 2 GB of space, which probably isn’t enough, especially if we have a lot of photos. The “pro individual” level is C$11.99 per month. The business version, starting with five people, starts at C$850 per year—so, I think, out of our range. It is easy with Dropbox to share folders and files so that others can contribute or access files.

- Google offers 15 GB of free storage. This includes Drive, Gmail, and Photos. The rate for 100 GB is $1.99 per month and 1 TB is $9.99 per month. I am not aware of our having a Google account, but this should be easy to set up. I have less experience with Google Drive, but I think sharing files is also possible.

- There are other cloud-based storage options available as well, with varying levels of free storage and for varying prices, such as iDrive and Box. These can also be further investigated.

A non-cloud option would be to get an external hard drive and have a designated person in charge of it. However, this raises issues of backing up the hard drive, physically transferring the drive when the designated person changes, and so forth, which seems like additional work, especially when cloud-based options exist.

In other website matters, in the past few months information on the ASI/ISC conference has been posted on the website, with help from François as our conference liaison. We have also posted the current issue of the Bulletin in three new ebook formats—EPUB fixed layout, EPUB reflowable text, and MOBI for Kindle—in addition to the PDF. This is thanks to Andrea Hatley’s hard work in creating the new formats and David’s assistance, as there were initially some problems uploading these formats.

As for current concerns and projects, there has been an issue with how the basic membership and Find an Indexer forms are appearing on the back end of the website, which makes Frances Robinson’s work approving of memberships difficult. The problem is apparently with the same plug-in that was causing trouble in the fall, though of a different nature this time. David has managed to fix this somewhat, though not 100 percent. We will be monitoring future versions of this plug-in, as well as seeing if we can possibly get a complete fix now.

Stephen Ullstrom

Member-at-Large Report

At the October 2015 meeting I offered to provide assistance to anyone who wanted it. I report here on three areas of concern.

Web Storage

I looked into using Microsoft’s OneDrive cloud solution. OneDrive is available as a free service with 15 GB of storage (the personal version) or a subscription service with 1 TB of storage (the pro version). To maximize the value of the cloud service, Microsoft also offers free versions of its OneNote product for Windows, OSX, and Linux desktop systems and iOS and Android tablets and phones.

I have created a mockup of a “notebook” for ISC/SCI. Access to notebooks stored on OneDrive can be made public or private. Private access can be restricted by password, by invitation, or by access to a hyperlink. As well, individual sections of the notebook can be separately password-protected.

The ISC/SCI notebook mockup contains a number of sections with various kinds of content as an illustration of what can be done. A working notebook would have to be more detailed, with specific divisions, than the mockup. For example, each kind of report would require its own tab to avoid endless scrolling through unordered reports. There would need to be separate divisions for each set of minutes or a separate division for each executive meeting, with subdivisions within.

The point is simply to show what can be done. It may be possible to save some money by moving some of the reference material from the website to a notebook, depending on how much we currently pay for data storage on our website.

We can have as many notebooks as we want, with different access to each. As well, we can offer read-only access to some sections or for some people and editing privileges to others.

Because OneDrive exists in the cloud, the information does not have to be stored on anyone’s personal computer. That said, a copy of any notebook can also be stored on a local computer.

Library Contacts

I have researched all the library schools in Canada. In addition to reviewing their programs, I reviewed the research interests of the faculty members. I did not find anyone who listed indexing as an area of research. I did, however, find much interest in electronic aids for information management.

I understand that we want to find a liaison person at each school, but the purpose of that liaison is not clear to me. In any event, the most suitable person at each school seems to be an administrative person with a title such as Director of Communications and Media. I need clarification of exactly what we are proposing to offer or hoping to achieve with these contacts. I expect that I will be able to complete this project within two weeks thereafter. The ISC/SCI notebook might be the logical place to keep those contact details.

Photos

I have not made a request for photos. It seemed logical to first determine how we would collect whatever we received and where we would store it. Again, the notebook seems like a solution to this issue. We can give everyone the ability to add photos to the notebook. From those provided, we can then either choose photos for publication or simply maintain a gallery in the notebook for each event covered. We could, for example, encourage photos of regional events or coffee meetings. If we decide to proceed with a photo gallery section, that can also be completed within two weeks.

John Barkwell

Executive Reports, Feburary 2016—Regions

I’m sorry to report that there has not been much activity since last October. Two of us met in the fall in Wolfville, NS. I was unable to meet with the Montréal indexers in November as planned.

There has been some email communication. I reminded my list of the conference presenters’ application deadline, and one member took the plunge, applied, and will be presenting. One person contacted me about becoming an indexer, and I was able to offer some information. I also sent out an email in January requesting member news and heard back from several people.

I will be following up on plans to meet people in Montréal and possibly in New Brunswick (including the PEI contingent) in the near future.

Alexandra Peace

Photo Credits:

Quebec: Blue Flag Iris, “Iris versicolor 4”, by Dlanglois is licenced under Creative Commons Attribution-SA 3.0 Unported.

New Brunswick: Purple violet, “Viola cucullata (blue marsh violet), club-shaped hairs on lateral petals”, by Tom Potterfield, is licenced under CC by-NC-SA 2.0 for non-commercial use and has been slightly modified by cropping.

Prince Edward Island: Lady Slipper Orchid, “Close up of dark pink lady slipper orchid or moccasin flower cypripedium acaule”, by Dr. Thomas G. Barnes, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is licenced under the public domain, not copyrighted, no rights reserved, and free for any use.

Nova Scotia: Mayflower, “Epiaea repens – Trailing arbutus” by Fritzflohrreynolds is licenced under Creative Commons Attribution-SA 3.0 Unported.

Newfoundland: Purple pitcher plant, “Purple Pitcher Plant Flowers”, by Brett Whaley is licenced under CC by-NC-SA 2.0 for non-commercial use and has been slightly modified by cropping.

October had us meeting and discussing recent indexing publications. I actually couldn’t attend because of a health issue, but Margaret de Boer and Mary Newberry gallantly stepped up and chaired the meeting for me (thank you again!) The following people reviewed and reported on publications: Mary (The Indexer), Margaret (Bulletin), Frances Robinson (ANZSI’s publication), Boyd Holmes (ASI’s Keywords), and Gillian Watts (SI’s Sidelights). I provided recent listserv discussions, which Margaret (I believe) read out.

November’s meeting was very exciting, with live demonstrations of SKY Index, CINDEX, and MACREX. Gale Rhoades from MACREX and indexer Linnea Dwyer (SKY) joined in using Skype, and Pierre Joyal demonstrated CINDEX in person. Fifteen people were squeezed into our meeting room, including two newbies who found the demos particularly helpful.

December’s meeting was cancelled because of the holidays.

January had Mary Newberry and Margaret de Boer sharing their stories of indexing the report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. They shared the ways in which they dealt with such a huge project, which not only needed multiple indexers but also involved the emotional issues that are always present when reading stories of abuse. It was an excellent and intense meeting that went into overtime! Eleven members and two non-members joined us.

In February we will have Pierre Joyal back to present IndexConvert. This is a software that helps convert an index in text or word-processor format to a file that can be imported into CINDEX, MACREX, SKY Index, a spreadsheet, or a database.

March remains a mystery at this point, as I was up to my neck in non-indexing related “full-time plus” work until just last Wednesday. I'm excited about doing indexes again and coming up with interesting meeting topics for 2016!

Siusan Moffat

Photo Credit:

Ontario: White Trillium, “Trillium grandiflorum/Trille blanc/White trillium”, by Charles de Mille-Isles is licenced under CC by 2.0.

The Prairies and Northern Canada branch met informally in Edmonton at a local coffee shop on October 17. We tried connecting with Skype, but it was not very effective because of the background noise. As usual, we covered a wide range of topics: discovering and creating business opportunities; experiences with and suggestions for marketing ourselves; questions about technologies; approaches to indexing; and the upcoming conference. Because of their small size and informality, these meetings provide a friendly and supportive environment where it is easy to ask questions, sound out ideas, voice our opinions, and receive reassurance and encouragement for our success.

Our next meeting is March 12, 2016, at the Second Cup on 149th Street in Edmonton.

JoAnne Burek

Photo Credits:

Alberta: Wild rose, “Rosa acicularis 8513”, by Walter Siegmund is licenced under the Creative Commons Attribution-SA 3.0 Unported, 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic and 1.0 Generic licence.

Saskatchewan: Western red lily, “Turk’s-Cap Lily (Lilium philadelphicum)” by Joshua Mayer is licenced under CC by-SA 2.0.

Manitoba: Prairie crocus, is licenced under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.

Nunavut: Purple saxifrage, “Purpsaxifrage2”, by Michael Haferkamp is licenced under the GNU Free Documentation Licence.

Northwest Territories: Mountain avens, “Mountainavens2”, by Michael Haferkamp is licenced under the GNU Free Documentation Licence.

Yukon: Fireweed, “Epilobe feuilles etroites 01”, by Delphine Ménardis licenced under CC by-SA 2.0 France.

In mid-November we had a meeting in Victoria with a fairly decent turnout of eight to ten people, just to chat and get to know each other. It was very enjoyable and covered topics ranging from software choices to recent books and other things in between.

We’ve had one new member join ISC/SCI from the BC region.

Now that the holiday season is over, it’s time to start thinking about holding another meeting. This time I’m thinking of one somewhere in Vancouver to allow for easier attendance for the people around there.

I have been informed of a publishers’/self-publishers’ conference being held in Nanaimo some time in March, but as of writing this report, there is no information about it online. Currently I’m waiting for more information, but it might be a good thing to have a presence there.

Elena Gwynne

Photo Credit:

British Columbia: Pacific dogwood, “Cornus nuttallii 4”, by Stan Shebs is licenced under Creative Commons Attribution-SA 3.0 Unported.

ISC/SCI

133 Major Street

Toronto, ON

Canada M5S 2K9

www.indexers.ca

ISC Executive :: Officiers de la SCI

Presidents :: Présidentes

Jennifer Hedges, Margaret de Boer

Vice-president :: Vice-président

François Trahan

Past President :: Présidente sortante

Mary Newberry

Treasurer :: Trésorièr

Sergey Lobachev

Membership Secretary :: Secrétaire d'adhésions

Frances Robinson

International Liaison :: Liaison internationale

Heather Ebbs

Member-at-Large/Publicity :: Publicité

John Barkwell

Editor, ISC/SCI Bulletin :: Réviseuse, Bulletin de la SCI

Andrea Hatley

Website Administrator :: Gestionnaire du site Web

Stephen Ullstrom

Regional Representatives :: Représentantes des regions

British Columbia :: Colombie-Britannique

Elena Gwynne

Prairies and Northern Canada :: Prairies et nord du Canada

JoAnne Burek

Central Canada :: Centre du Canada

Siusan Moffat

Eastern Canada :: Est du Canada

Alexandra Peace

Join

Membership categories and fees:

Basic

Individual

C$100

Student

*C$65

Institution

C$115

With Listing

Individual

C$150

Student

*C$115

Institution

C$155

(Members outside Canada, add C$10)

*Student membership is available for full-time students only. Please inform ISC/SCI of your course name and institution.

Visit indexers.ca/become-a-member/

Renew

To renew online, go to the following link:

indexers.ca/contact-us/renew-your-membership/

Or send your renewal to:

Frances Robinson, Membership Secretary

ISC/SCI

133 Major Street

Toronto, ON

Canada M5S 2K9

Remember to add the ISC/SCI membership secretary to your list of people to contact when your details change.

Write

Submit unsolicited articles electronically in Word or rich text format (*.rtf). Artwork should be in PDF format, and photographs in TIF or JPG format. Send submissions to Editor, Andrea Hatley, andrea@wordtapestries.com with “Bulletin” in subject line.

Advertise

Advertisement Size

Single Issue

Three issues

Whole page

$100

$90

Half page

75

65

Quarter page

35

30

Business card

25

20

Please contact the Bulletin editor for details.

Bulletin Board: Gillian Watts, François Trahan, Sylvia Siemens, Andrea Hatley.

© 2016 Indexing Society of Canada :: Société canadienne d'indexation and individual contributors.

The Bulletin is published three times per year in print format, and starting with Vol. 37-3, in EPUB (Beta). Both formats are available for download from www.indexers.ca.