Past Conferences

St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador
June 9-10, 2023

Murray Premises Hotel
5 Beck’s Cove, St. John’s, NL

Picture this: Steep streets lined with rows of art-inspiring brightly coloured maritime houses…a historic harbour…a world-class university…whales to watch…and other incredible things to do and see.

And in between all of that, the chance to boost your indexing skills, hone your business practices, and meet and reconnect with fellow indexers.

The Conference Venue

The conference will be held in the Murray Premises Hotel, situated in a National Historic Site on the St. John’s harbour front. Featuring nineteenth-century exposed masonry walls and wood beams, the hotel oozes charm. More about the venue.

Accommodations at the Murray Premises

The Murray Premises Hotel is offering special rates for conference attendees during the conference as well as 5 days before and 5 days after. The room rates before taxes:

• $179.00 – Traditional Queen Guest Rooms
• $189.00 – Traditional King Guest Rooms
• $199.00 – Signature King Guest Rooms
• $209.00 – Executive (Jacuzzi) Rooms

The room taxes are Tourism Marketing Levy (Room Tax) 4% and Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) 15%.

For reservations, email info@murraypremiseshotel.com or call reservations at 1-709-738-7773 and quote the group block code (you will receive the code when you register).

Conference Program June 9 – 10

This is shaping up to be an exciting conference, with knowledgeable speakers and topics designed to help you grow your business. From live demonstrations to software explanations and a health session that focuses on one of our most important assets—our eyes—we promise you’ll go home enriched and renewed.

Five sessions on Friday June 9 will be followed by the Annual General Meeting at the end of the afternoon and then the Awards Banquet. Six speakers will be featured on Saturday June 10.

Friday, June 9

• A Large Press’s View of Indexing. Phil Getz, Senior Editor at Palgrave Macmillan will give us the behind-the-scenes view of their operations.
• A Musical Interlude. Paula Clarke Bain will discuss the art of indexing music, from scholarly works on classical music through to modern pop/rock trade biographies and memoirs.
• You Had to Be There: Two Experienced Indexers Remember the Indexing Society of Canada Over the Years. The ISC/SCI has been serving the needs of Canadian indexers since the 1970s. Newer indexer Mercedes Brian will interview long-time members Ruth Pincoe and Gillian Watt about the Society, its history, their personal contributions to its development, and the benefits of belonging to a professional association.
• Content Management with Auto-Tagging, Glenda Browne will show us how to use Mondeca to manage  thesaurus, ontology, and auto-tagging.
• Book Indexing: A Step-By-Step Guide, the writing of.Stephen Ullstrom shares his experience writing his soon-to-be-published (2023) book on indexing.
• Annual General Meeting
• Awards Banquet

Saturday, June 10

• The Tamil Epic and Linked Indexes: A Study, Ronnie Seagren presents her experience with a straightforward indexing project that grew into a two-year saga. This project has implications for embedded indexes, e-book indexes, scoping a project, and more.
• Running Your Business: Let Software Help. Pierke Bosschieter. shows us ways to improve your efficiency and your enjoyment of indexing using non-indexing software and devices.
• Caring for Your Eyes. A guest presentation by Noubar Kara-Yakoubian (BSc, OD), from the Newfoundland And Labrador Association of Optometrists.
• Project Management with MS Office: How to Keep Up with Your Workload,Sergey Lobachev shows us how to manage your workload so that you can retain more clients without losing your sanity.
• William Lost-His-Pants and More Fun with Medieval Names. While the treatment of names and titles for nobility has been well covered in indexing manuals and handbooks, the by-names used in medieval Europe can pose special challenges. Jolanta Kormonicka will discuss medieval naming conventions, inverting names, and glossing of names.
• Tips of the Trade, Mary Newberry. Tips and tricks for your indexing practice, featuring highlights from Mary’s own experiences, including what to do with the metatopic; how to sneak sub-sub entries into run-in formats; how to know what to index and how to point to ideas that are not directly indexed.

Download conference program.

Live Indexing Workshop, Sunday June 11

Award-winning indexer Stephen Ullstrom will index a scholarly article he has not previously read, and discuss his process as he works. This three-hour workshop is offered in addition to the conference program. The workshop runs from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m.

Fireside Chat for New Indexers, Thursday June 8

This one hour session is a conference extra that takes place Thursday afternoon with Mary Newberry. New indexers are invited to ask their burning questions on transitioning from student to practising indexer. Collect your snack at 4 p.m. and bring it to the room for a 4:30 start time.

Iceberg Quest Boat Tour, Thursday June 8 – Full

Our Thursday icebreaker event involves real icebergs…and maybe whales and puffins too! Join us for a two-hour boat tour with Iceberg Quest from the St. John’s harbour. We’ll experience Cape Spear, Cabot Tower, and Fort Amherst from the sea, in an area that has the world’s largest concentration of humpback whales. The tour is from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and it’s fully narrated.

Puffin-Palooza Ecological Reserve Tour, Wednesday June 7

Our pre-conference event takes you on one of the most spectacular sights in nature. Leaving historic St. John’s, we make our way south along the coast to the historic Irish community of Bay Bulls and a boat tour of the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve. This group of four islands is home to more than four million breeding seabirds and North America’s largest colony of Atlantic Puffin. The sheer number of birds is mind-boggling. Icebergs are possible this time of year, and if any are nearby we will certainly take time to enjoy it.

* Lunch is not included on this tour, so make sure to eat beforehand. A canteen with snacks & beverages is available on the boat, but packing snacks is also encouraged.

Pricing and Registration

Prices are in Canadian Dollars, all applicable taxes are included

Conference Scholarships for ISC/SCI Members

Applications closed. Thank you to everyone who applied.

Conference Sponsors

to come

Conference Blog

Conference Success in St. John’s, NL

July 18, 2023

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 … […]

Early Bird Conference Pricing Ends Sunday

April 28, 2023

Time is running out if you want to save on your registration for the ISC/SCI conference in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Register by Sunday, April 30 to receive the Early Bird discount on your conference registration. Register today for the June 9-10 Conference as well as any of these optional events: Visit the conference page for … […]

Registration Now Open for ISC/SCI Conference 2023 in Newfoundland

February 20, 2023

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: Sessions on indexing practices include improving your efficiency (Pierke Bosschieter) and … […]

Things to do in St. John’s: Where to start

February 12, 2023

Make and renew connections. Meet indexers from all over the world. And explore Newfoundland. A great way to start planning your activities is to order a copy of the 2023 Traveller’s Guide and map. The guide is offered in English and French. And it’s free. Order the guide.

Things to do in St. John’s: The Rooms

January 30, 2023

Come and ask your indexing questions at the ISC/SCI Annual Conference 2023 … and check out 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 … […]

Conference 2023: The Venue

January 11, 2023

ISC/SCI is pleased to announce that Conference 2023 will be held at the Murray Premises Hotel in St. John’s, Newfoundland. The hotel is located in the Murray Premises National Historic Site on the St. John’s waterfront. The site, which comprises three buildings, is typical of the type of commercial buildings that used to line the … […]

Things to do in St. John’s: Signal Hill

January 11, 2023

Are you coming to St. John’s, Newfoundland for the ISC/SCI conference in June? Make sure you allow extra time on the “rock” to visit the sights. Beyond the visitor’s centre, there are trails ranging from easy to strenuous where you can enjoy the views of the harbour and rugged coastal landscape. And if you book … […]

Conference Scholarship

January 9, 2023

ISC/SCI is offering scholarships to three ISC/SCI members to help them attend the conference in St. John’s, Newfoundland, in June 2023. The scholarship will pay the two-day early-bird conference fee. You are eligible to apply if you meet both of these conditions: Preference will be given to new indexers, then those who have never attended … […]

ISC/SCI Conference 2023. See also Newfoundland

October 15, 2022

Save the Date! June 9–10, 2023 Get your calendar out and mark the dates June 9 and 10, 2023, for the ISC/SCI’s annual conference (some pre- and post-conference events are also in the works, so you’ll want to consider saving some extra days too). The program team is pulling together great speakers and invaluable content—you’ll … […]

Read the announcements and discover things to do in St. John’s (link takes you to indexers.ca).

May 24 – 25, 2019

University of Ottawa

12th Floor, Desmarais Building, 55 Laurier Avenue East

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.) The city is very walkable, with pathways on either side of the Rideau Canal.

The University of Ottawa is a medium-size campus and east to walk. Conference sessions will be on the top floor of the Desmarais Building (55 Laurier Avenue East). A map will be included in the conference packet.

Conference and Workshop Agenda

Download the Program

View and download conference handouts (Members Only content)

Friday

Anne Fifer, “Editing Without Pain”
Alexandre Grandmaître and Martine Rocheleau, “Accessing Parliamentary Information: from Traditional Indexes to a Database Integrated Information Management System”
Fred Leise, “Brilliantly Structured Indexes Redux: New Realities in Index Structure”
Lunch
Kate Mertes, “Beyond the Subject Index: The Index Locorum”
Gale Rhoades and Marian Sullivan, “Above and Beyond: The Experts Help You Get the Most from Your Indexing Software”
Annual General Meeting
Banquet and Awards

Saturday

Camille Callison (Canadian Federation of Library Associations) and Katherine Kasirer in “A Behind-the-Screen Look at the Indigenous Knowledge Materials Classification Schema (IMCS) Implementation during the Creation of NFB’s Indigenous Cinema”
Enid Zafran, “Indexing Scholarly Books: Go Deep”
Ruth Paulauskas (BreathWoRx), “BreathWoRx for Desk Workers”
Lunch
Kendra Millis, “Indexing Lives”
Pierre Joyal on incorporating your business
Heather Ebbs, Christine Jacobs, Anne Louise Mahoney, and Elizabeth Schwaiger, “Ethical Choices: Thinking Beyond the Page”

Sunday (optional) – Sold Out

“Names, the Challenge of Indexing”, a full-day workshop with Enid Zafran, has been sold out, but you can be added to the waiting list when you register. Location is same as conference venue.

Conference Sponsors

We’d like to thank our generous sponsors:

Pricing

Conference rates include continental breakfast (with protein), lunch, and snacks.
Early bird rates apply until April 15.

Prices are in Canadian Dollars

Sunday Workshop “Names” presented by Enid Zafran (includes lunch) – $105 (sold out, wait list available)

Banquet – $63

Plan Your Travel

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

• Thursday, May 23: Optional dinner (pay your own) at Johnny Farina Italian Restaurant, 216 Elgin Street or East India Company, 210 Somerset St. W, from 6 p.m. on.
• Friday, May 24: Breakfast around 8, sessions from 9 until 5, followed by banquet at Signatures Restaurant, 453 Laurier Ave. E. Cash bar from 6:15 p.m. Banquet at 7 p.m.
• Saturday, May 25: Breakfast around 8, sessions from 9 until 5, followed by optional dinner (pay your own) at Colonnade Pizza, 280 Metcalfe St. from 6 p.m. on.
• Sunday, May 26: “Names” workshop from 9 until 4, location is same as conference venue (12th floor, Desmarais Building, 55 Laurier Avenue E.)

Accommodations

We have negotiated special rates for conference attendees at two venues:

University of Ottawa Housing

90U Residence
90 University, less than a five-minute walk to the conference venue
Two bedroom suites with double beds and kitchenette for $125 per suite per night
Rates apply until April 11, 2019

Lord Elgin Hotel

Lord Elgin Hotel
100 Elgin Street, less than 10 minute walk to the conference venue
Classic King, Classic Queen, Classic 2 Queen Beds: $239 for Single or Double
Rates apply until April 22

There are many other accommodation options in downtown Ottawa, including boutique hotels such as the Byward Blue Inn and ARC the Hotel, B&Bs such as Auberge McGee’s Inn and Auberge des Arts, and chain hotels such as Novotel, Days Inn, Fairmont and others. Airbnbs in Sandy Hill and the Byward Market area are closest, but Downtown and Centretown are also quite close. Even the Glebe neighborhood is only a 30- to 40-minute walk along the Rideau canal, and it will be a beautiful walk at the end of May.

Book early to avoid disappointment!

Another Successful Conference

June 24, 2019

Our May 27-28 conference in Ottawa was attended by 66 people from across Canada and parts of the US. We … […]

Great Intentions

April 12, 2019

In Cal Newport’s latest book, “Digital Minimalism”, he describes how the Amish use technology intentionally. When a new technology arises, … […]

The Professional Treatment

April 5, 2019

In 1997, John E Simkin, a founding member of the Australian Indexing Society, wrote about the “technical vs. professional aspects … […]

Indexing in the Scholarly Niche

March 29, 2019

Of the all the book titles published in Canada, scholarly books make up less than 3% (Statistics Canada, 2016). For … […]

Construction plans

March 25, 2019

Writing an index can be like building a magnificent backyard storage shed one brick at a time, with no blueprint … […]

Behind the screen look at decolonization of terms

March 15, 2019

Last December, one of the topics that came up on the ISC-L list was the need to decolonize terms in … […]

Parliamentary information

March 8, 2019

The House of Commons, Canada’s lower house of Parliament, is steeped in tradition. But progress carries on. When television cameras … […]

An elegant niche

March 1, 2019

Ever since Kate Mertes offered to talk about “indexing locora” at the ISC/SCI conference, we’ve been curious. “Index locorum” literally … […]

Sunday Workshop

February 14, 2019

Names: The Challenge of Indexing Presented by Enid L. Zafran Date and time: May 26, 2019, 9 a.m. to 4 … […]

ISC/SCI Conference Program Announced

February 14, 2019

The ISC/SCI has set the program for the 2019 conference taking place in Ottawa on May 24 and 25. In … […]

Registration Now Open

February 4, 2019

The annual ISC/SCI conference in Ottawa is now open for Early Bird registration. Take advantage of these early bird rates … […]

Does it spark joy?

January 25, 2019

Marie Kondo, the author of The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, teaches a method to help us deal with … […]

Post Conference Workshop Announced

January 18, 2019

Indexing names sounds so easy.  But names indexing is so much broader than just people—it really encompasses all proper nouns … […]

Library Archives Canada: a national, accessible treasure

January 4, 2019

One thing that we love about indexing is the opportunity to read books that we might not discover on our … […]

A Gift to Yourself

December 29, 2018

In an interview, David Allen, the creator of “Getting Things Done”, described a Year End Review that will motivate and … […]

Conflicting Views

December 21, 2018

Have you ever indexed a scholarly book with views that you disagree with? It would have felt good to ignore … […]

Save the Date for ISC/SCI Conference in Ottawa

November 30, 2018

Mark your calendar for the ISC/SCI annual conference on May 24-25, 2019, in Ottawa, Ontario. The conference theme,“Beyond the Page—New … […]