News
The politics of indexing
Posted on: 27/03/2025
Indexers strive for equity and objectivity in their work, but indexes – like all other texts – have political implications. For our National Indexing Day blog, indexer Tanya Izzard looks at how indexing gets political, and how indexers respond to that. I was at a party a few years ago and was explaining what I
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CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS, SOCIETY OF INDEXERS 2025 CONFERENCE
Posted on: 12/03/2025
Conference title: ‘The Heart and Mind of Indexing’ Date: Friday 19 September to Sunday 21 September 2025 Venue: The Writers’ Suite, Edgbaston Park Hotel and Conference Centre, University of Birmingham, UK Call for submissions Following our successful 2024 online conference, the Society of Indexers invites submissions for our 2025 in-person conference at Edgbaston Park Hotel
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Ask the Indexers: reference sources
Posted on: 11/03/2025
Reference sources are vital in indexing work to verify names. What are the most useful ones for our panel of expert indexers? Do they prefer hard copy or online reference sources? Some of the reference sources named are out of print. It’s worth keeping an eye on indexer forums, as retiring indexers will often have
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Ask the Indexers: dealing with setbacks
Posted on: 18/02/2025
For this post, we asked the indexers how they deal with setbacks: scheduling changes, unhappy clients, or other problems that can disrupt their work. Michelle Brumby, Advanced Professional Member I do try not to let events over which I have little control, such as schedule changes or demanding clients, affect me too much, which can
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Indexing and… librarianship
Posted on: 04/02/2025
Many of the Society of Indexers’ members combine indexing with other work. In this post, professional indexer Carlos Garcia-Jane discusses combining indexing with librarianship. My background I am a qualified, professional librarian and have worked at The British Museum and the Royal Academy of Dance; I now work full-time as Project Librarian at the Royal
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National Indexing Day 2025
Posted on: 20/01/2025
The Society of Indexers is celebrating National Indexing Day for the ninth successive year on Thursday 27 March 2025. This year we will be celebrating with a half-day in-person workshop for publishing professionals in London, as well as online across social media with the tag #IndexDay. The workshop will be run twice on the day,
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Ask the Indexers: working efficiently, saving time
Posted on: 16/01/2025
As indexers gain in experience, they develop very efficient ways of working. We asked our panel of indexers for their best efficiency and timesaving tips. Christine Boylan, Advanced Professional Member Don’t over-think entries. Often your first instinct about what to include is correct and, if it doesn’t feel right, leave it out or mark it
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Indexing and… a diverse portfolio career
Posted on: 06/01/2025
Indexing is sometimes regarded as a niche career reserved for librarians and information specialists. In this post, professional indexer Susie Marques-Jones discusses the changes in global working practices in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Age and highlights her own eclectic career path to being a professional indexer and ‘multipotentialite’. Jobs in the AI Age According to
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Indexing and… bookselling
Posted on: 19/12/2024
Many of the Society of Indexers’ members combine indexing with other work. In this post, professional indexer Sue Penny discusses combining indexing with librarianship. My background 10 years ago, I was a full-time school librarian in a small school in a small community. Although I was the only library professional in the school, I was
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Ask the Indexers: on client feedback
Posted on: 16/12/2024
In this Ask the Indexers blog post, our panel of indexers reflects on client feedback. What is the best piece of feedback they’ve ever had, positive or negative? And did it change how they approached their work? Nic Nicholas, Fellow “The index is splendid. Nic’s work is of such a high standard that she has
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New Honorary President
Posted on: 27/11/2024
We are delighted to announce that Caroline Sanderson has agreed to become the Society of Indexers’ new Honorary President. Caroline is an author, journalist and reviewer; as Associate Editor of The Bookseller she has championed non-fiction in her regular reviews and round-ups of forthcoming work. She is also Programme Director of Stroud Book Festival, and
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Ask the Indexers: What aspects of indexing as a career turned out to be very different from your expectations?
Posted on: 14/11/2024
Our panel reflects on what an indexing career can be like, compared to what they imagined it might be while training. Rohan Bolton, Fellow Starting indexing nearly twenty years ago I had not realised how important computer and IT skills are in order to be efficient and how quickly things are changing: learning how to
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