Events

2010 Events

Fall Workshop

November 5 & 6, 2010

Hilton Garden Inn O'Hare
2930 South River Road, Des Plaines, IL 60018

Friday, November 5: Kate Mertes discusses “aboutness” in indexing.

Debuted as a half-day session at the Minneapolis annual conference, this full-day workshop addresses the concept of aboutness when approaching a text. Multiple exercises and discussion are included.

 

Saturday, November 6: multiple speakers focus on how to build your client base.

In the morning, Madge Walls will present marketing theory.

You have successfully completed an indexing course. You have learned to use indexing software. You are ready to tackle your first paying indexing job. So what do you need to do to prepare for that first assignment? And how do you find ongoing work?

Madge will lead us in a “prospecting for clients” journey. Marketing is for everyone—from the inexperienced to indexers who have been indexing for over thirty years.

In the afternoon, Naomi Linzer and Bonnie Hanks will describe their own approaches to marketing. Are you just starting out and need clients? Have you been indexing for many years but clients don’t call as frequently as before? Are some of your clients paying less? Hear two indexers describe their methods. Today’s economy dictates knowing how to market and market well.

 

Costs

For today’s tough economy, the Hilton Garden Inn’s room rates are the same as last year ($79 plus tax per night), and our registration costs are also the same.

 

Meals

The fun begins Thursday evening, November 4, at an informal dinner in the hotel restaurant. Each day ends with a dinner at a local restaurant.

We hope to see you in Chicago in early November. Watch for registration information arriving in your inbox in September.

Past Events

Spring Workshop

April 24, 2010, 9:30 a.m.

Jefferson Park Library
5363 West Lawrence Avenue, Chicago, IL

$15.00, including a light lunch

We'll start the day with a discussion of term selection. Attendees will have a chance to compare their indexes with those of two experienced indexers: Fred Leise and Leoni McVey, noting the differences and similarities in their approaches to the text. The goal is to stimulate a discussion of indexing styles and to analyze how different indexers approach the same material.

Everyone attending will have a chance to prepare their own index to the text before the meeting.

In the afternoon, several experienced indexers will review a different article, also sent to attendees in advance, in a peer review process.

Location

The Jefferson Park library is close to Interstate 90 (Kennedy Expressway), the CTA Blue line, the Metra Union Pacific Northwest line, and several bus routes.

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Informal Luncheon Chat

February 20, 2010
11:30 a.m.

We are planning an informal lunch “chat” on the topic of office layout and equipment for indexers at Geppetto’s Italian Ristorante, 113 N. Oak Park Avenue in Oak Park, Illinois, a near-west suburb of Chicago.

There is no fee, and attendees can purchase their own lunches.

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Fall Workshops: Names and Biographies,
Managing an Indexing Business, Cookbook Indexing

November 6–7, 2009

Hilton Garden Inn O’Hare
2930 South River Road, Des Plaines, IL 60018

See the workshop brochure.

Friday, November 6—Two Programs

Morning session
Martin White presented a workshop on indexing names and biographies.

Afternoon session
An expert panel (featuring an accountant, an insurance representative, and a marketing specialist focusing on social media) presented ways of managing your indexing business.

 

Saturday, November 7—Easy as Pie? (The Complexities of Cookbook Indexing)
Fred Leise was featured speaker for a full-day workshop on cookbook indexing.

Brochure
Program descriptions, speaker biographies, daily schedules, hotel information, registration fees, and more, including the registration form, can be found in the workshop brochure.

Spring Practicum: Term Selection

May 16, 2009

Chicago Public Library, Austin-Irving Branch
6100 W. Irving Park Rd.
Chicago, IL 60634
312-744-6222

9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

$15 plus lunch

How do indexers decide what terms to use in an index?

Using a variety of provided sources, we chose index entries and then discussed why specific terminology was chosen. The discussion included the kinds of patterns and problems that indexers might encounter in various types of indexing (e.g., back of the book, journal, encyclopedia).

Getting to the Library

The library is on Irving Park Road just west of Austin Avenue (6000 west).

Metra riders

Take the Union Pacific Northwest Line train and get off at the Irving Park Road station. At street level, board a westbound #80 CTA bus. The library is about 3 miles west of the train station. There is a bus stop across the street from the library. Bus service runs every 10–15 minutes on Saturdays.

EL riders

The #80 Irving Park bus connects with the Red, Blue and Brown lines along its route. The Blue Line is the closest elevated line to the library.

Drivers

The library is conveniently located near the Kennedy Expressway (I-90).

Luncheon Indexers Chat

Saturday, March 7 , 2009

Evanston’s Rhythm Room
1715 N Maple, Evanston
(Century Evanston 18 Theatre, 2nd Floor)
847-492-9723

Starting at 12:00 nooon

Bring your own topic—perhaps indexing theory or index practice. Maybe you have questions about indexing minutiae or the big picture, getting hired, professional advancement, or self-employment.

Directions are available here (PDF).

2008 Fall Workshops

October 24 & 25, 2008

Two Days Featuring Enid Zafran,
John Wean, Cathy Townsend, and Do Mi Stauber

Hilton Garden Inn O'Hare
2930 South River Road, Des Plaines, IL 60018

Complete details are available in our PDF brochure.

Friday, October 24

• Polishing Your Index (Enid Zafran)

Enid Zafran drew from her vast experience to present the steps of editing and polishing the index.

• The Publishing Process (John Wean and Cathy Townsend)

What is the role of the indexer in the book production process? What causes schedules for indexing proofs to be delayed? These questions and more were answered by John Wean and Cathy Townsend of the Black Dot Group in Crystal Lake, Illinois.

Saturday, October 25

• Taming the Wild Project List: Organizing Tools for the Complex Life
  (Do Mi Stauber)

This new workshop by Do Mi Stauber, author of Facing the Text: Content and Structure in Book Indexing, is designed to help the busy freelance professional.

Popular workshop presenter Do Mi Stauber, a connoisseur of time management systems for many years, has found a combination of organizing tools that enables her to excel in many areas of her multifaceted life.

Registration Fees

ASI Members

   Registration received by October 1
      Friday only: $125; Saturday only: $125
      Both days: $200

   Registration received by October 17
      Friday only: $150; Saturday only: $150
      Both days: $275

Non-ASI Members

   Registration received by October 1
      Friday only: $150; Saturday only: $150
      Both days: $275

   Registration received by October 17
      Friday only: $175; Saturday only: $175
      Both days: $340

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Saturday, July 12, 2008
Summer Practicum: Term Analysis

Park Ridge Library
20 South Prospect Ave.
Park Ridge, IL 60068

9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Fee: $10, plus lunch

Join us for a lively group discussion and exercise in text analysis and term selection. We will summarize, in back-of-the-book-index format, short texts that can be read in a few minutes yet still give rise to substantive indexing problems and decisions.

 

Library Location

The Park Ridge Library is in downtown Park Ridge at 20 S. Prospect Ave. and is near various public transportation routes (bus and commuter train). View transportation options to Park Ridge Library (PDF)

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Chicago/Great Lakes Practicum
Saturday, March 15, 2008

Park Ridge Public Library
Park Ridge, Illinois 60068
9:30 a.m.–4:00 p.m.

Fee: $10, plus lunch

Join us for a group discussion and exercise in text analysis and term selection. We will consider how to summarize, in back-of-the-book-index format, short texts that can be read in a few minutes yet still give rise to substantive indexing problems and decisions.

Library Location

The Park Ridge Library is in downtown Park Ridge at 20 S. Prospect Ave. and is near various public transportation routes (bus and commuter train). View transportation options to Park Ridge Library (PDF)

About Our March Practicum

One of our chapter members, Michael Jackson, wrote the following review of the March meeting, which appeared in the April 2008 issue of Key Words.

Saturday, March 15, saw the vibrant Chicago/Great Lakes Chapter busy writing indexes as a full-day collaborative exercise facilitated by Neil Ching (Champaign, Illinois) at the suburban Park Ridge, Illinois, public library. The librarians seemed surprised to hear considerable laughter emanating from the conference room on the third floor of the library.

A warm-up exercise, “Humpty, Dumpty” (familiar to graduates of the UC Berkeley Extension Indexing course) was indexed to such a degree that participants almost achieved what the “cavalry. See king’s horses and king’s men ” could not—putting “Humpty Dumpty, accident victim” back together again!

The remainder of the morning session was spent working on a technical, medical article. After lunch at a local restaurant, we worked on a current affairs article concerning the recent declaration of independence by Kosovo from Serbia, stretching our political tact and fully using our collective geographic knowledge.

In addition to adding to our indexing expertise, we found that indexing is not always a lonely occupation. As Lori Bell (Chicago, a first-time attendee) remarked, “It is so good to find other people who think like I do!”

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2007: Fall Workshops

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