Conference Success in St. John’s, NL

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.

Early Bird Conference Pricing Ends Sunday

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:

  • Wednesday, June 7, 2023 Puffin-Palooza – A boat tour to the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve, home to more than four million breeding seabirds and North America’s largest colony of Atlantic Puffins.
  • Thursday, June 8, 2023 Iceberg Quest – Experience Cape Spear, Cabot Tower, and Fort Amherst from the sea, in an area that has the world’s largest concentration of humpback whales.
  • Thursday, June 8, 2023 Fireside Chat – A one hour session for new indexers. Bring your burning questions about transitioning from student to practicing indexer.
  • Friday, June 9, 2023 Awards Banquet – Meet and socialize with your colleagues and their guests, and celebrate the winners of the Ewart-Daveluy award for excellence in indexing and the Tamarack award for service to ISC/SCI.
  • Sunday, June 11, 2023 Live Indexing Workshop – Award-winning indexer Stephen Ullstrom will index a scholarly article he has not previously read, and discuss his process as he works.

Visit the conference page for more details.

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