Announcements

The Professional Treatment

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In 1997, John E Simkin, a founding member of the Australian Indexing Society, wrote about the “technical vs. professional aspects of the practice of indexing” and argued that “indexers must take professionalism seriously if they are to raise their own status or contribute to the development of modern information management.” You can read the article here in The Indexer Volume 20 (4) https://www.theindexer.org/files/20-4/20-4_178.pdf

Simkin must have said something controversial, because in the following issue (Vol 20 (1)), there were three “counterblast” letters to the editor. What were the concerns? Well, one of them was this throw-away statement “If all you’ve ever bothered to learn is how to knock off an index to a book on some well-known topic — gardening, biography, cookery …”.

You just don’t knock off a biography, exclaimed the letter-writers. Carol Barlow, a scientist, wrote that indexing biographies is “demanding, time consuming, and uneconomic” and added “I therefore leave these to the experts.” Hazel Bell directed the readers to her book “Indexing biographies and other stories of human lives” for  the contrary case.

Biographies and memoirs can be fascinating to index and are within anyone’s capability with some training. At the conference in Ottawa May 24-25, Kendra Millis will help us grow professionally when she shares her expertise in this rich and engaging genre.

And now a reminder that special pricing deadlines are approaching fast. Early bird pricing on conference fees ends Monday April 15. The discount on room rates at the 90U Residence on the University of Ottawa campus ends April 11. The Lord Elgin room rate discount ends April 22.

Get the details and links are here.

Indexing in the Scholarly Niche

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Of the all the book titles published in Canada, scholarly books make up less than 3% (Statistics Canada, 2016). For indexers, however, scholarly publishing is a significant category and can be an important source of work. But, as many indexers know, the niche has its challenges.

Enid Zafran calls scholarly indexing “one of the most ‘brain-challenging’ types of work for indexers. Authors can wander, repeat, and be obscure as they write for others in their subject specialty.” Join us at ISC/SCI Conference on May 24-25 in Ottawa, as Enid presents “Scholarly Indexing of Books: Go Deep”. In this presentation, Enid will discuss how to approach these works, the importance of author relations, and the future of the scholarly niche.

By the way, Enid’s Sunday workshop on indexing names is now filled. However, you can add yourself to the wait list when you register for the conference.

Construction plans

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Writing an index can be like building a magnificent backyard storage shed one brick at a time, with no blueprint and no idea of what the finished product will look like.

Initially, the work proceeds cautiously and slowly; many decisions are made by feeling. Enthusiasm turns to discomfort as the growing structure begins to look awkward and messy. We push through it. As we approach the final chapters, the layout becomes apparent, and the speed picks up as we reach the end of the book. Or, perhaps nothing is clear until we step back and edit the whole thing.

Is there a better way? Fred Leise, renowned indexer and Berkeley course instructor, points out that indexers are often advised to “mirror the structure of the text” but we are not told how to do that. Fred will show us how at the ISC/SCI conference in Ottawa May 24-25.

Behind the screen look at decolonization of terms

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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.

Parliamentary information

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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.