The Indexing Society of Canada / Société canadienne d’indexation (ISC/SCI) is Canada’s national association of indexers.
We invite you to find an indexer for your project, read our publications, discover our conferences, events, and resources for indexers, find out about membership, and learn about the Society.
Find an indexer
Find an indexer who works in the subject area of your project.
Find resources
Find information about indexes, indexing practices, and training in indexing.
Attend an event
Attend a local meeting of indexers or attend the annual conference.
Become a member
Join the Society and enjoy the benefits of membership.
Featured Post
What practices will help me with good index term selection?
An elegant niche
JoAnne Burek
Ever since Kate Mertes offered to talk about “indexing locora” at the ISC/SCI conference, we’ve been curious.
“Index locorum” literally means index of places. Other indexes with Latin names include index rerum (subjects), index nominum (names), and index verborum (words). It’s unlikely that you’ll see a book with any index named so elegantly, except for the index locorum…which is not an index of places in the everyday sense.
So, we wondered, what does an index locorum look like? We found one in Substantial Knowledge: Aristotle’s Metaphysics by C.D.C. Reeve. You’ll see it in the “Look Inside” feature on Amazon.com. This book has 300 pages of text, a 9 page Index Locorum and a 3 page General Index.
Kate says there is a growing demand for these types of indexes, but they are finicky. Learn how to work in this elegant-sounding niche at the conference on May 24-25 in Ottawa.
Sunday Workshop
Indexing Society of Canada
Names: The Challenge of Indexing
Presented by Enid L. Zafran
Date and time: May 26, 2019, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Place: 12th Floor Desmarais Building, 55 Laurier Avenue E.
Cost: $105 Canadian (includes lunch)
Enid’s workshop was amazing! As expected, it was of tremendous help to new indexers, but even experienced indexers left the workshop quite pleased with what they had learned. Don’t miss your last chance to learn from the master.
—Connie Binder, chapter chair ASI Mid-Atlantic Chapter, January 2019
No matter what field of indexing you specialize in, no matter how long you have been an indexer, names always present a challenge. In addition to names of people, other types of proper names are considered, including major events, legal materials, titles, book characters, etc.
In this day-long workshop, Enid Zafran will consider names indexing from three aspects:
- the strategies to make them into index entries,
- determining when a name is “indexable,”
- the correct formatting and sorting of names of various types.
There will be hands-on exercises during the day (no laptop or software required).
This workshop was given for the first time in Chicago in October 2018.
Enid covered so many different naming principles that challenged us and illuminated our knowledge. Everyone who attended was enthralled with the presentation from this veteran indexer.
—conference participant
Note that this is the final time this workshop will be offered at a conference, so be sure to add this day to your conference time when signing up!
ISC/SCI Conference Program Announced
Indexing Society of Canada
The ISC/SCI has set the program for the 2019 conference taking place in Ottawa on May 24 and 25.
In keeping with the conference theme, Beyond the Page—New Platforms, New Realities, the program offers a variety of topics that are timely and informative for new and experienced indexers alike.
Sessions on indexing practices include working with scholarly texts (Enid Zafran), biography and memoirs (Kendra Millis), structuring indexes (Fred Liese), and editing indexes “from the get-go” (Anne Fifer). Kate Mertes will talk about a growing and profitable market that you’ve probably never heard: of the indexing of locora.
Special sessions taking us “beyond the page” include
- solutions toward decolonizing access and classification presented by a panel from the Indigenous Matters Committee of the Canadian Federation of Library Associations (they raised this issue in response to the Truth and Reconciliation Committee report)
- a step into the world of parliamentary information—an underpinning of informed democratic engagement—with Martine Rocheleau and the House of Commons indexers on intelligence-based search
- a discussion of ethics presented by Christine Jacobs and a panel of indexers and editors
- business practices by Pierre Joyal
- techniques that will change the way you work—physically and mentally—to restore energy and reduce stress, in a mini-workshop given by Ruth Paulauskas, founder of BreathWoRx
Following the conference on May 26 is a full-day workshop “Names: The Challenge of Indexing” by Enid Zafran.
Conference packages are available for Friday-only, Saturday-only, or both days. Full-time students receive a special reduced rate. As a reminder, we have discounted rates for accommodations.
Early Bird pricing is on now until April 15. Visit the conference page for the full conference agenda and links to the registration form.
Registration Now Open
Indexing Society of Canada
The annual ISC/SCI conference in Ottawa is now open for Early Bird registration.
Take advantage of these early bird rates until April 15:
- Members (including ASI, ANSZI, SI, all other affiliates and Editors Canada): $291 for full two-day conference, $159 for one day
- Non-members: $344 for two-day conference, $211 for one day
- Special rate for eligible full-time students: $158 for the two-day conference and $80 for one day.
And on Sunday we have a workshop “Names”, presented by Enid Zafran, $105.
All prices are in Canadian Dollars.
The program so far includes expert indexers on indexing scholarly work, indexing biographies and memoirs, and for our technical tool bag, structuring indexes, editing without pain, and indexing software. Specialty topics include Kate Mertes on the practice of indexing locora and the Ottawa Hansard indexers on the intelligence-based search engine for parliamentary information. We also have a number of special guests who you’ll hear more about soon.
Register now before Early Bird pricing ends April 15.
Does it spark joy?
JoAnne Burek
Marie Kondo, the author of The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, teaches a method to help us deal with the material items in our lives. In her Netflix series, “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo”, she helps desperate unhappy people who are wallowing in clutter by showing them how to get their houses in order once and for all. Her method includes techniques, such as folding laundry, as well as approaches toward material things, like thanking an item for its service before you discard it. To decide what to keep and what to let go, you ask yourself “Does this spark joy?”
Indexers know well the joy of finishing an index. It’s an intense process that can get away on you if you’re not careful. You’re not done just because you’ve typed in all the entries. You still have the editing, and that’s where it’s easy to go over budget. You’re conscientious about your work and you’re not going to turn in an index that doesn’t spark joy for your client.
Anne Fifer has a way to make editing less grueling. She is going to give us techniques, approaches, and more when she presents “Editing without pain: Getting your index in shape from the get-go” at the conference in Ottawa, May 24-25.