Canada’s Professional Society of Indexers Since 1977

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?

Term selection is a key factor that determines the quality and usability of an index. Good index terms are clear, … […]

Upcoming Events

Post-Conference Sunday: Embedded indexing

Indexing Society of Canada

The client wants an index for a printed book and an eBook. You’ve heard about embedding indexes, but you haven’t attempted one yourself. The client won’t pay you to learn on the job. So, do you bid or not?

If fear and uncertainty is holding you back from bidding on these projects, then you’ll want to attend the post-conference Sunday morning workshop “Indexing for Multiple Outputs” presented by Cheryl Landes.

Cheryl will talk about the differences between embedded and traditional back of the book indexing and how to tag content for multiple outputs. You’ll take away strategies for planning the index, working with the publisher (they all have their unique ways), and tagging entries to make the publisher happy. And of course there will be live demos and practice exercises.

It all happens on Sunday, June 10 in Winnipeg in the Fort Garry Hotel.

Learn more about the workshop or go register now on Eventbrite.

New ideas where you weren’t looking

JoAnne Burek

fresh fish I tell my writer friends that a good way to find new ideas is to read a scholarly book that’s not quite in their field.

As an indexer of such books, I’ve been surprised to find new insights several times. For instance, in Collaborative Consultation in Mental Health, I learned about a proven process for mentoring. In Food Sovereignty, Agroecology, and Biocultural Diversity, I read a riveting story about a company that was struggling with cultural differences.

In a scholarly book that you wouldn’t normally choose to read, there are gems of knowledge that you would never know were there. And only an indexer would know that.

Mary Newberry and Judy Dunlop have been joyfully indexing scholarly books for years. Join us as they share their experiences in a joint presentation in Winnipeg, June 8 and 9.

JoAnne Burek

A Fine Balance

Indexing Society of Canada

twig balances with coralIndexing is actually a highly engaging activity, isn’t it?

Sure, we work alone. We may not even have a single face-to-face conversation all day. But as we get into reading the book in front of us, we go beyond being absorbed. We deeply engage on two fronts—with the meaning of the text and with the minds of the future readers.

One of the secrets to happiness is doing engaging work. And that’s why most of us wouldn’t choose to do anything else.

But there is a down side to this choice, especially for freelancers. We have to manage clients, projects, schedules and personal responsibilities. If we don’t, the stress piles up and that’s just not fun.

So, what can we do to balance on the edge of maximum happiness and minimum stress?

Nan Badgett will give us strategies at the conference in Winnipeg June 8-9.

You can register here.

Cuts after cuts

Indexing Society of Canada

Film editing has a methodology. Why not index editingIn the methodology of classic film editing, there are four orderly cuts to get to the final film. First, the film editor assembles the footage and puts the scenes in proper order. This product is called the rough cut.

Next, the editor, director, and producer review the sequences and footage selection and agree on a version that becomes the first cut.

Then the team zooms in on the details of the scenes and the rhythm and structure to create the fine cut.

Finally, the music and sound effects are added to create the final cut.

Considering how much money is poured into making a film, it’s only natural that the industry should have a film-editing methodology.

As an indexer, you pour a lot of time into your indexes. Have you thought about your index-editing methodology? (Or lack thereof?)

Come to the conference in Winnipeg on June 8-9, when Anne Fifer shares all her secrets on editing indexes. (First tip from Anne: It starts as soon as you write first entry.)

Early Bird Registration Now Open

Indexing Society of Canada

The annual ISC/SCI conference in Winnipeg is now open for Early Bird registration.

Take advantage of these early bird rates until April 20:
Members: $275 for full two-day conference, $150 for one day
Non-members: $325 for two-day conference, $200 for one day

We have a special rate for eligible full-time students: $150 for the two-day conference and $75 for one day.

The full conference program will be revealed soon. Here are the highlights:

The keynote session is an interview with Maureen MacGlashan, editor of The Indexer, the International Journal of Indexing from 2004 to the present. Maureen is retiring this year. In this session, she’ll be sharing plenty about her experiences and unique perspectives gained from producing this quarterly journal that indexers find so essential to their practice.

The closing session will be Dr. Gregory Younging, the author of Elements of Indigenous Style. Choosing appropriate words around difficult topics is a challenge in index-writing. In this session, Dr. Younging will give us the mindset we need to construct an index that is a worthy bridge between the author’s message and the reader.

We will have sessions on indexing academic books, tips for editing your index more efficiently, the latest research on index usability, and from our Hansard indexers, a case study of browsing and navigation technologies for indexed documents on the web.

Our business skills sessions will help you navigate the stages of a freelancing career—from making a splash with bids that impress clients and win business, to staying afloat with managing clients and schedules, to sailing gently into retirement with ease and purpose.

Get with the flow and register before Early Bird pricing ends April 20.