Indexing Society of Canada

Conference Success in St. John’s, NL

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Our June 9-10 conference in St. John’s was attended by 40 people from across Canada and US, England, Switzerland, and Australia. We met old friends and made new ones as we laughed, learned, and shared experiences and encouragement.

You can find more photos in our conference album on Flickr.

On Sunday, June 11, many attendees stayed around to attend a Live Indexing workshop given by Stephen Ullstrom, winner of multiple indexing awards, and author of Book Indexing: A Step-By-Step Guide.

For many people, a visit to Newfoundland is a rare treat. To make sure the attendees would get the most from their trip, two pre-conference tours were organized. On June 7, a group took a Bird the Rock tour to the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve, home to more than four million breeding seabirds and North America’s largest colony of Atlantic Puffins. Then the next day, an even larger group took an Iceberg Quest tour through the St. John’s harbour out to Cape Spear, North America’s most eastern point.

Thank you to the conference committee headed by Alexandra Peace, with Lisa Fedorak, JoAnne Burek, Maura Blain Brown, Mercedes Brian, Maggie Billard, and Brittany Vesterback for your work in planning and organizing this successful event.

Thank you also to the Executive Committee of the ISC/SCI for setting aside conference scholarship funds for three new indexers.

Thank you, all of you wonderful businesses, for providing give-aways and door prizes.

  • Breakwater Books
  • Claire Wilkshire
  • Murray Premises Hotel
  • Riddle Fence magazine
  • Destination St. John’s

Thank you, attendees, for your enthusiasm and participation. And an extra-big thank you if you filled out the conference survey. Your input and comments will be of enormous help to future conference committees. Look for a full conference report in the next issue of The Bulletin.

2023 Tamarack Award: Ronnie Seagren

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The Indexing Society of Canada / Société canadienne d’indexation (ISC/SCI) is pleased to announce the 2023 recipient of the Tamarack Award. Ronnie Seagren (Toronto) is being recognized for her contribution and commitment to the society.

Ronnie was chosen for her unflagging dedication to the society, willingness to always lend a helping hand, and dedication to diversity and inclusion in indexing.

Ronnie’s colleagues had the following to say about her:

[Ronnie’s] warmth of spirit and optimism are infectious and make the society a better place for all.

Ronnie brings hard work and joy to so many committees inside (and outside!) ISC/SCI. It’s been a pleasure to work with her.

I’m so pleased [Ronnie was] chosen to be the recipient of this year’s Tamarack Award. It is truly a well-deserved award.

“We are thrilled to present this award to Ronnie, and we are honoured to have her as a member of our society,” said Alexandra Peace and Jolanta Komornicka, Co-Presidents. “Thank you, Ronnie, for all you have given to the society and its membership.”

The Tamarack Award was instituted to recognize members who go “above and beyond the call of duty” in their volunteer work for the Society. Past recipients can be found on the website here: https://indexers.ca/tamarack-award-2/.

2023 Ewart-Daveluy Award: Enid Zafran

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The ISC/SCI is pleased to announce that the 2023 Ewart-Daveluy Indexing award was presented to Enid L. Zafran on Friday, June 9, at the ISC/SCI awards banquet. The award recognizes Zafran’s index for Accidental Conflict: America, China, and the Clash of False Narratives, by Stephen Roach. The book was published in 2022 by Yale University Press.

Enid Zafran, who has been indexing for over 40 years, found this book “a unique challenge.” The text examines the political and trade relations between two countries, each of which has adopted a false narrative concerning the other: America falsely blames its trade and technology threats on China yet overlooks its shaky domestic saving foundation; China falsely blames its growth challenges on America’s alleged containment of market-based socialism, ignoring its failure to achieve structural rebalancing.

Zafran commented, “[The book] presented a lot of jigsaw pieces . . . that I had to fit together (requiring a network of cross-referencing).” She worked closely with the author, who praised his indexer for producing “an outstanding index in all respects—it really brings the book to life as a tool for readers.”

The Ewart-Daveluy Award jury noted that the text is easy to read but not easy to index, with a high density of terms per page. Zafran’s “overall consistency of approach and decisions is stellar,” and they congratulate her for “outstanding work that required concentration, thoroughness, and distinguishing closely related notions.”

Congratulations to Yale University Press and Stephen Roach, the author, for recognizing the importance and value of a well-written index.

The index is available courtesy of Yale University Press.

Enid L. Zafran started indexing in 1975, working for a legal publisher in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1990 she moved to Washington, DC, to become Director of Indexing Services at the Bureau of National Affairs, where she oversaw a department of 40 indexers. Her business, Indexing Partners LLC, formed in 1989 and is now located in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. She has written extensively about indexing and given many presentations on the subject to indexing groups, librarians, and the general public. A founding member of the Institute of Certified Indexers, she offers an Indexing Boot Camp to newer indexers to help them learn indexing styles and techniques.

The ISC/SCI Ewart-Daveluy Award, inaugurated in 2015, is presented each year to an individual who has created an index that demonstrates outstanding expertise through a combination of skills. Eligible indexers are Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada, or non-Canadians who are members of ISC/SCI at the time of writing the index.

Lending Library

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We are excited to announce that the ISC/SCI Lending Library is now open!

As of today, May 1st, our ISC/SCI website contains a page for the lending library. You may access it here.

On this page, you will find:

  • a book list;
  • the library policy;
  • and the request form.

Please remember to take the time to review the policy before you submit your request form.

Don’t see a resource that you were hoping to? Email us. We can add it to the list of books we are looking to add to the collection.

Do you have books taking up shelf space that you think would provide great information to your fellow indexers? Email us. We would be grateful to talk you about a possible donation.

Due to cost and copyright laws, this membership benefit is only available to members who reside in Canada.

We are excited to launch this new program and we hope that you are too!

The ISC/SCI Library Committee