Indexing Society of Canada

Save the Date for ISC/SCI Conference in Ottawa

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Ceremonial Guard Band on Parliament Hill
Ceremonial Guard Band on Parliament Hill (Ottawa Tourism)

Mark your calendar for the ISC/SCI annual conference on May 24-25, 2019, in Ottawa, Ontario.

The conference theme,“Beyond the Page—New Platforms, New Realities”/«Au-delà de la page—nouvelles plateformes, nouvelles réalités» recognizes that the publishing and information world continues to bring new challenges and new opportunities. At this conference, we’ll fine-tune our indexing practices, grow our business skills, offer our support and encouragement to newcomers, and pick the brains of those who have experience.

Ottawa is more than the political centre of Canada. It’s also home to some of the nation’s most important cultural venues. (Our conference site, which is on the University of Ottawa campus in the city’s centre, is just across the street from the new Ottawa Art Gallery.)

To help you plan your travel, here’s the draft schedule of activities:

  • Thursday, May 23: a late afternoon or evening pre-conference event
  • Friday, May 24: Breakfast around 8, sessions from 9 until 5, followed by our banquet dinner
  • Saturday, May 25: Breakfast around 8, sessions from 9 until 5, followed by a post-conference event
  • Sunday, May 26: we’re leaving room for a possible workshop or other event

Watch the conference page for more details and announcement in the weeks to come.

Press Release: Mary Newberry Mentorship Program

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Today we made the great announcement to our industry contacts and affiliated societies. The press release is below.

Included in the announcement is our new web page for the mentorship program.

Toronto, Canada, September 4, 2018

ISC/SCI announces mentorship program for indexers

The Indexing Society of Canada / Société canadienne d’indexation (ISC/SCI) is excited to announce the development of the Mary Newberry Mentorship Program.

The voluntary program will assist new indexers who wish to develop their skills and business. Mature indexers will also use the program to develop expertise in new disciplines and skills.

The program framework was announced at the ISC/SCI 2018 Annual Conference in Winnipeg in June. Stephen Ullstrom, chair of the program committee, and Linda Christian have been named the program’s first coordinators. They plan to have it running by January 2019.

Ullstrom, who is also the regional representative for the Prairies and Northern Canada, points out that most indexers are freelancers, and they could live almost anywhere. “The mentorship program will give anyone who lives in a remote area an additional resource and community that is usually only available to indexers in well-populated areas.”

“This program is a great achievement,” says Siusan Moffat, ISC/SCI executive member. Christian adds, “We had a lively discussion in the online forums on the need for mentoring in our industry. The timing couldn’t be better.”

The program is named after ISC/SCI member Mary Newberry in recognition of her many years of mentorship and teaching.

To learn more about the program, contact Stephen Ullstrom (mentorship@indexers.ca) or visit indexers.ca/resources/mentorship.

2018 Tamarack Award: Christopher Blackburn

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The Tamarack award was instituted to recognize members who go “above and beyond the call of duty” in their volunteer work for the Society.

This year we have chosen Christopher Blackburn as the Tamarack Award recipient for that very reason.

The award  is a  symbol of our thanks and gratitude for what he has given to the Indexing Society of Canada |Société canadienne d’indexation and is well-deserved after many, many years of service for our Society.

Chris served as a dedicated Central Canada regional representative and has been a member of the Executive committee where he provided wise and thoughtful contributions.

You could consider Chris our Society historian! He has in his possession every issue of the Bulletin since its inception, attended numerous conferences, both national and international, notably England, Ireland, and the US. He has made several contributions to the Bulletin reporting on the many events he attended.  His involvement can be traced back to 2001, planning the Toronto conference when our Society was called the Indexing and Abstracting Society of Canada (IASC/SCAD). Chris has a deep and personal knowledge of the evolution of indexing methods and is always willing to share his indexing knowledge with other members.

Chris was presented with the Tamarack Award and he humbly accepted it at our recent Toronto indexers’ meeting in June. It was a delightful moment!

We are honoured to present this award to Chris this year and we are honoured to have him as a member of our Society.

Thank you and congratulations, Chris!

Margaret de Boer

Senior Co-President

Alexandra Peace

Junior Co-President

Ruth Pincoe (Ruth is a past president and instituted the Tamarack Award in 2004), Christopher Blackburn (2018 Tamarack Award recipient), Margaret de Boer (Senior Co-president)

 

A big thank you to our conference donors and sponsors

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Dish of CandyThanks to the wonderful donors and sponsors of our 2018 Conference in Winnipeg!

Their contributions of door prizes and equipment helped make the conference a success.

2018 Ewart-Daveluy Award: Audrey McClellan

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Christine Jacobson presents the 2018 Ewart-Daveluy award to Audrey McClellan
Christine Jacobs presents the award to Audrey McClellan

Audrey McClellan was presented with the Ewart-Daveluy Award for Indexing Excellence at the awards banquet of the Indexing Society of Canada in Winnipeg on June 9, 2018, for her index to Barry Gough’s Churchill and Fisher: Titans at the Admiralty, published by Seaforth Publishing.

As its title suggests, the book focuses on the relationship between Winston Churchill, as First Lord of the Admiralty, and John Fisher, as First Sea Lord of the British Royal Navy, but also covers the evolution of the British Navy during the late 19th and early 20th centuries and the relevant events of the First World War.

The indexing challenge was to compress 585 pages of what often felt like three books in one into a 13-page index accompanied by a short Index of Ships. Audrey rose to this challenge, achieving a thorough and comprehensive coverage of all relevant topics and personal names, along with the interrelationships between and among topics and names within the space constraints.

An excerpt from the index is available here, courtesy of Seaforth Publishing.