27 August 2024 You hired a professional indexer, and now they’ve done the job and sent the index back to you. It’s a good idea to look it over to make sure the index does what you want it to, but how do you know… Read More »Evaluate an Index in 6 Steps
20 August 2024 This article first appeared in Key Words, the journal of the American Society for Indexing (vol. 32, no. 2, Summer 2024). Over May 31–June 1, 2024, the Indexing Society of Canada/Société canadienne d’indexation (ISC/SCI) held its virtual conference, The Art Connection. Things… Read More »The Art of Connection
13 August 2024 I am so excited to learn that J. Andrew Deman, a former colleague of mine and a friend, has just won the Eisner Award for Best Academic/Scholarly Work! The book he won for is The Claremont Run: Subverting Gender in the X-Men… Read More »Eisner Award
06 August 2024 Last week I looked at alphabetization in Czech. Polish is comparatively simpler, as you don’t have to remember which diacritics affect the sort and which don’t. Of course, you do have to keep straight which order the three z‘s go in. In… Read More »Alphabetizing Polish
30 July 2024 I’ve been away from blogging for a while, so to dip back into it here’s a handy reference if you ever find yourself working with Czech terms or names. For indexing, there are two things to know about the Czech alphabet. First,… Read More »Alphabetizing Czech
Review of the Continental Connections international indexing conference held in Berlin, Germany, in October 2022, from the perspective of one there in person.
3 April 2024 For the past month+, I’ve had limited use of my right (dominant) arm. This has led to my purchase of a programmable mouse. In truth, it’s a gaming mouse, but I have repurposed it for productivity. When I first got it, I… Read More »Of Mice and Indexers
19 March 2024 Every so often, a new indexer (or editor, or proofreader) asks whether they need to have a contract with their clients. I always answer yes. One of two questions follow: Why aren’t the email exchanges enough? What should go in the contract?… Read More »Business Contracts, or Why Email Isn’t Enough
Cross-references are, in the end, a balancing act. Too many and the reader is caught in a sticky spider’s web, unable to move forward due to the plethora of options without clear guidance. Too few, and the reader is attempting to climb a cargo net at summer camp, feet constantly slipping through holes while they struggle to find their way in an index that doesn’t provide enough guidance.
27 February 2024 Indexing textbooks for funerary professionals comes with its own peculiar set of challenges (especially when dealing with the before photos), but it’s helpful when the authors have a sense of humour. To wit, Supercilium (eyebrows). As mentioned, cilia means “lashes” or “eyebrows,”… Read More »The Importance of a Sense of Humour