DReam to Index Scholarships

In 2018, the Friends of Dave established a fund to honor David K. Ream who passed away at the end of 2017. Dave, who was well known throughout the indexing communities of the world, provided computer-programming, database construction, and typesetting to indexers and abstractors for more than 30 years. Dave gave so much to the field of indexing and was especially interested in helping indexers succeed in their work. That is why we have chosen to honor him by recognizing new people coming to the field and helping them on their indexing journey.

The scholarships enable newer indexers to attend a national indexing conference. In 2019, each winner receives $500 USD toward the expense of her conference registration and travel.

We are pleased to announce the two winners for the 2019 DReam to Index Scholarships:

Siusan Moffat

AElfwine Mischler

Both Siusan and AElfwine took the UC Berkeley Course for introductory indexing training. They have registered to attend the Ottawa Conference of the Indexing Society of Canada (ISC).

Siusan lives in Toronto, Canada, and AElfwine lives in Cairo, Egypt.

We look forward to their ongoing growth as indexers!

In 2020, the DReam to Index scholarships will be offered again using the same criteria – for more information, about Dave Ream and the scholarships please see www.dreamtoindex.com.

Bursary for Structurally Disadvantaged People

We were able to secure funding from the Special Projects committee for our very first bursary!

The Bursary for Structurally Disadvantaged People is for one person, and it will cover fees for an indexing course, two years of ISC membership with listing, and entry into the Mentorship program.

The Inclusivity, Diversity and Equity committee (TIDE) is a very small committee and we will be needing more people to join in to help develop and organize the bursary. Please get in touch to help out! siusanmoffat (at.) gmail (dot) com

Behind the screen look at decolonization of terms

Last December, one of the topics that came up on the ISC-L list was the need to decolonize terms in the library classification system. In the ensuing thread, we heard that work was underway, driven mainly by the Canadian Federation of Library Associations (CFLA-FACLA).

So, what is this work? Following up on the report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the CFLA-FACLA formed a Truth and Reconciliation Committee to advance the Calls to Actions. In 2017, the Committee delivered an 87-page report. The report presents 10 over-arching recommendations and many detailed recommendations along four tracks, designed to help libraries in their efforts to advance reconciliation.

Work is indeed underway. We are thrilled to have the Chair of the Committee, Camille Callison, join us at the conference on Ottawa May 24-25. Camille will be accompanied by Katherine Kasirer, Senior Librarian at the National Film Board. They will give a joint keynote presentation on a special decolonization project: “A Behind-the-Screen Look at the Indigenous Knowledge Materials Classification Schema (IMCS) Implementation during the Creation of NFB’s Indigenous Cinema”.

You can register for the conference here.

Special Projects has been busy and we’re ready for more

The ISC/SCI has, over the years, accumulated surplus funds. Some of these funds will be kept aside as a reserve in case of deficit. That still leaves some extra funds that we can spend.

The Special Projects Committee was formed in 2017 to assess projects for ISC/SCI to spend money on. The committee sent out a request for proposals and received several interesting ideas and comments that were gratefully received.

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Parliamentary information

House of Commons
Credit: Makaristos on Wikipedia

The House of Commons, Canada’s lower house of Parliament, is steeped in tradition. But progress carries on. When television cameras were installed in the 1970s, news coverage was changed forever, and arguably so were debating styles and citizens’ impressions of politicians.

Now renovations on the House of Commons original workplace have begun. When Centre Block reopens after 10 years, every aspect of the building and its systems will have been upgraded. Who can guess at the impact of these changes?

A recent change that has had a deep impact is the development of the House of Commons’ integrated system to record, publish, and manage parliamentary information. In our conference in Ottawa May 24-25, Alexandre Grandmaître and Martine Rocheleau from the House of Commons will explore how this technological change has turned indexing into information management, how business processes were adapted accordingly, and what challenges they face going forward.