ISC/SCI Webinar “Arabic Names, Indexing of”

Indexing Arabic names is challenging even for indexers who read Arabic. On Tuesday, March 14, from 6 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. Eastern Time, we are hosting a webinar that we hope will help solve that problem. The webinar is free and is open to members only.

In this webinar Ælfwine Mischler will present on the following:

  • differences between modern and premodern names
  • the definite article
  • letters ayn and hamza
  • names that must not be split
  • titles and honorifics
  • which name to use as the entry point
  • resources for indexers

Ælfwine is an American copyeditor and indexer living in Cairo, Egypt. She works primarily on Islamic studies and Middle East studies books and has written a series of seven blog posts in American Editor about editing romanized Arabic in English texts and other posts on indexing. Ælfwine is also an ISC/SCI member.

To get the most out of the webinar, Ælfwine recommends that you prepare with these articles in her Romanized Arabic in English Texts series, written for editors:

The 1 1/4 hour presentation will include a question-and-answer session. Attendees will be muted but will be able to ask questions using the chat box. Ælfwine will also take your questions before the webinar if you send them to webinars@indexers.ca by March 7.

The presentation (but not the Q&A) will be recorded. Once the recording is downloaded, it will be made available for purchase ($10) to all ISC/SCI members.

ISC/SCI at 2023 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences

The Indexing Society of Canada / Société canadienne d’indexation (ISC/SCI) is pleased to announce that we will have a booth at the Expo for the 2023 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, run by the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, in May. Congress is the largest gathering of academics in Canada. In 2019, prior to the pandemic, 10,600 people registered to attend. This year Congress is back to being in person, at York University in Toronto. We’re excited to have the opportunity to talk with scholars and publishers throughout the academic humanities about what indexers do and how to find one. We can’t wait to show off how great our indexers are!

Learn more about Congress here.

Registration Now Open for ISC/SCI Conference 2023 in Newfoundland

The Indexing Society of Canada/Société canadienne d’indexation invites you to join us at our annual conference on June 9 and 10, 2023, at the Murray Premises Hotel in St. John’s, Newfoundland.

This year’s conference theme is “See also Newfoundland.”

Special sessions include the following:

  • a representative from Palgrave Macmillan on their in-house production process for indexes
  • an optometrist on good eye care

Sessions on indexing practices include improving your efficiency (Pierke Bosschieter) and project management (Sergey Lobachev). Information sessions include talks on Mondeca (Glenda Browne), music texts (Paula Clarke Baine), and medieval names and glosses (Jolanta Komornicka). You will also hear highlights from an illustrious indexing career (Mary Newberry), an epic tale of an epic index (Ronnie Seagren), and all about writing a book on indexing (Stephen Ullstrom).

To welcome you to Newfoundland we’ve also organized a special get-together on Thursday afternoon: a boat tour of the harbour that can include sightings of icebergs, whales, and puffins. There is a separate charge for this sought-after event.

The conference will be followed on Sunday afternoon by an optional half-day live-indexing workshop by Stephen Ullstrom to demonstrate his work methods (separate charge).

Conference packages are available for Friday only, Saturday only, or for both days. The Murray Premises Hotel is giving attendees discounted rates for accommodations; these discounts are available for five days before and five days after the conference.

Visit the conference page for more details and registration.

Come to Conference 2023 in St. John’s, Newfoundland! #IndexCanCon2023

Things to do in St. John’s: The Rooms

Come and ask your indexing questions at the ISC/SCI Annual Conference 2023 … and check out The Rooms.

Photo credit: The Rooms

The Rooms is Newfoundland and Labrador’s largest public cultural space—full of history, heritage, and art.

As their website explains:

“The Rooms’ unique design mirrors the fishing rooms where families came together to process their catch.”

What is a fishing room? “[It’s] a reference to the simple gable-roofed sheds (called ‘fishing rooms’) that were once so common at the waterline in Newfoundland fishing villages.”

And that’s why they named the building the ‘The Rooms”!

“This building, like the collections and exhibitions it houses, represents a tribute to our people and a place in which to preserve our history and culture for generations to come.”

Getting to The Rooms is a 15-minute walk (200 feet or 62 meters uphill) from our conference venue, the Murray Premises Hotel.

The conference takes place in St. John’s, Newfoundland June 9–10. Learn more about the conference at conference.indexers.ca. #IndexCanCon2023