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ANZSI Newsletter Vol 16, No 2 — April 2020 PDF free Download. Think more deeply and widely.

ANZSI Newsletter Vol 16, No 2 — April 2020

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Newsletter of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Indexers Inc.

Volume 16 • Number 2 • April 2020

A message from the President ................................................................................... 2

Council update .............................................................................................. 4

ANZSI Membership in 2020–2021.......................................................................... 5

ANZSI Website update: structure and content changes ............................................... 5

John Simkin Medal 2020 postponement and Accreditation scheme suspension ................... 6

ANZSI Library: Commencement of operation ........................................................... 7

The indexer as unpaid proofreader ...................................................................... 8

Are indexes mandated in public sector documents in Australia? ................................... 10

Turnbull memoir and the ‘Washington read’ .......................................................... 12

Volunteer opportunity .................................................................................... 13

Groups news ................................................................................................ 13

Canberra Region Indexers Meeting ............................................................................. 13

NSW NID Q&A teleconference report ........................................................................... 14

People ....................................................................................................... 17

New Member ....................................................................................................... 17

Accredited Indexer Q&A: Kerryn Burgess ...................................................................... 17

Vale Susan Curran ................................................................................................. 18

Changed your contact details? ........................................................................... 19

What’s in The Indexer? ................................................................................... 20

ANZSI events ............................................................................................... 21

Other events ............................................................................................... 22

Contact information ...................................................................................... 24

ANZSI Newsletter Vol 16, No 2 — April 2020

A message from the President

Hello everybody,

It has been a tough month having to #stayathome, suspend ANZSI programs and postpone

events. I know that as indexers we are all used to self-isolating, but it is still hard to be apart

from family and friends as well as missing out on the occasional outing.

The latest updates and advice about COVID-19 from the federal government and its agencies

across Australia can be found at https://www.australia.gov.au/ and each state/territory

government website also has localised information.

Indexers who are freelancers and/or run their own business may be eligible for government

support during the COVID-19 epidemic. Please consult the Australian Taxation Office website

http://www.ato.gov.au/.

For some free time, online activities try:

Arts Centre Melbourne

https://www.artscentremelbourne.com.au/community/content-hub/together-with-you

Australian Ballet 2020 Digital season

https://australianballet.com.au/the-ballets/digital-season

Sydney Theatre Company

https://www.sydneytheatre.com.au/stc-virtual

Sydney Opera House digital

https://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/digital.html

Virtual Choirs from around the world

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=virtual+choir

Explore museums, galleries, archaeological sites and more

https://artsandculture.google.com

One of the many Facebook posts I received and which I think is particularly apt for this

occasion:

WORLD: There’s no way we can shut everything down in order to lower emissions, slow

climate change and protect the environment.

MOTHER NATURE: Here’s a virus. Practice.

I also did a Google search - COVID-19 effect on publishing industry – to try and find out what

was happening world-wide. Books+Publishing has recently reported that a number of local

and overseas publishers are taking measures including furloughing staff and salary cuts to deal

with the effects on the industry.

I would be interested to know how the pandemic is affecting your work – are you receiving

less work or are there delays?

ANZSI Newsletter Vol 16, No 2 — April 2020

For example, I received an email from Monash University Press indicating that it was carrying

on publishing as usual. Have you heard from other publishing companies?

If you have any news to share like this, Elisabeth Thomas, the ANZSI Newsletter Editor, would

be pleased to publish this information in the next Newsletter (editor@anzsi.org). Also, do you

have any other ideas or online websites you would like to share about how you are managing

during this difficult period.

ANZSI also sends our best wishes to all of our sister societies and their members around the

world during these difficult times.

Stay safe, well and happy.

To beat the COVID-19 blues, the ANZSI Council executive—Madeleine Davis (President),

Michael Ramsden (Vice President), Sherrey Quinn (Secretary) and Karen Gillen (Treasurer)—

have tuned up their vocal cords and donned their dancing shoes. Join them and clap along as

they get 'Happy'.

Madeleine Davis, President

Michael Ramsden, Madeleine Davis, Karen Gillen, Sherrey Quinn and Madeleine Davis (alter ego)

[ https://www.jibjab.com/view/make/happy/4a5cae7f-1777-413c-8fae-2ba0a836ff03 ]

(Various Internet sources) (@akkitwts)

ANZSI Newsletter Vol 16, No 2 — April 2020

Council update

Council met on 15 March 2020. Regular reports from office bearers were noted, and these will

be available on the website with the Minutes in due course.

Further discussion of the ANZSI Newsletter embargo (which for many years has been set at

three months) resulted in a decision that the Newsletter is a benefit of ANZSI membership

and as such will be available to members only. Sample issues will be made available on the

public area of the website. This decision is in line with the practice followed by many other

membership organisations and all but one of our sister indexing societies.

Content for the newsletter was also discussed, and Council encourages members to contribute

articles and news, plus information for the new ‘People’ column.

Australian membership fees will remain at the present level for 2020–21; New Zealand fees

will be set after consultation with Aotearoa/New Zealand Indexers.

The new ANZSI Library policy and procedures documents were approved by Council and these

are now available on the website in the Official Documents area. News about the Library

appears elsewhere in this Newsletter.

Council was informed of plans for National Indexing Day (28 March 2020). At the time of the

Council meeting, a get-together was held in Canberra on 14 March and a meeting was planned

in Hobart for 28 March. NSW Indexers conducted a well-attended teleconference on ‘Nuts &

Bolts’ on 29 March; see Glenda Browne’s report in this issue.

The ANZSI website experienced a number of technical issues in late 2019/early 2020. Council

expressed its gratitude to Jenny Browne for her contribution to resolving the issues, above

and beyond the stated scope of her role as Web Manager.

The Website Review Subcommittee has been reviewing, re-organising and updating pages with

the assistance of the Web Manager (see report in this issue). This is an ongoing project.

Council was pleased to confirm membership of the Accreditation Committee: Madeleine

Davis, Karen Gillen, Tordis Flath, Jean Norman, Shirley Campbell (Receiving Officer) and

Sherrey Quinn (Chair). Council acknowledged with gratitude the contribution of Michael

Wyatt, who stepped down from the committee this year.

However, subsequent to the meeting, Council conferred by email and decided that due to the

COVID-19 situation, Accreditation would be suspended for at least six months. Details are

presented elsewhere in this issue.

Also, at this meeting membership of the Judging panel for the John Simkin Medal 2020 was

confirmed. However, the later email discussion also agreed that the Medal process would be

postponed until 2021.

Similarly, plans for a future conference, training workshops and professional development

meetings were placed on hold until after the pandemic. Opportunities for further

teleconference and videoconference professional development sessions will be explored.

Conferences to be held later in 2020 by sister societies have been cancelled.

Sherrey Quinn, Secretary

ANZSI Newsletter Vol 16, No 2 — April 2020

ANZSI Membership in 2020–2021

The approaching end of the financial year is a reminder that ANZSI subscription renewals will

be due soon. A renewal email will be sent to you in June, with a link to make a payment.

Please note that the option to pay by cheque or money order is no longer available.

Renewing your membership will ensure that you continue to receive benefits including the

ANZSI Newsletter, reduced rates on The Indexer, Indexers Available and ANZSI Groups.

Nikki Davis, Membership Secretary

ANZSI Website update: structure and content changes

As part of the ongoing review of the website, and following some recent Council decisions, a

number of changes have been made to the structure and content of the website. As well as

adding some new material, for the most part, these changes focus on delineating between

public and member-only content. In the process of making these structural changes, related

content has also been updated and refined, and redundant material has been removed.

New web pages — Public

‘About Indexing’

The former ‘Resources’ page has been renamed ‘About Indexing’ and includes public content

on the following topics: An indexing career; Types of indexes; Concordance or index?; Brief

history of indexing; and Training and online courses. The various reading lists that were

included on the former ‘Resources’ page are now located in the ‘Members Area’ of the

website (see ‘Recommended Reading and Guidelines’ below) for the exclusive use of

members.

‘Publications/Newsletter’

Following the Council decision to make the ANZSI Newsletter available to members only, this

new subsidiary page replaces the former ‘Newsletters’ page. The new ‘Newsletter’ page

provides only general public information about the Newsletter and will include a couple of

sample Newsletters. The full Newsletter archive, and index to the newsletters, can now only

be accessed in the ‘Members Area’ (see ‘Newsletter Archive’ page 6).

New web pages — Members Area

‘ANZSI Library’

As noted elsewhere in this issue of the Newsletter, a new page has been created for the

recently established ANZSI Library. The page includes links to both the Australian and New

Zealand collections, and to relevant library officers.

ANZSI Newsletter Vol 16, No 2 — April 2020

‘Recommended Reading and Guidelines’

The former ‘Your Indexing Business’ page has been replaced with a new ‘Recommended

Reading and Guidelines’ page. As mentioned above, the reading lists that were previously on

the ‘Resources’ page in the public area of the website can now be found here. The content of

the reading lists is being reviewed and updated, and any items that are held in the ANZSI

Library will be highlighted.

‘Recommended Reading and Guidelines/Business-related Resources’

The resources provided on the former ‘Members Area/Your Indexing Business’ page are now

listed here on the subsidiary page ‘Business-related Resources’. The content has been

reviewed and updated. In addition, information for members regarding the recommended

rate and quoting, that was previously publicly available on the ‘Indexers Available’ page, will

also be located here.

‘Newsletter Archive’

All back issues of the ANZSI Newsletter are now located here, as is the index to the

AusSI/ANZSI Newsletter 1973–1992.

‘Journals and Newsletters’

This page was formerly called ‘International Journals and Newsletters’. Now, in addition to

links to international journals and newsletters, this new page also has links to all issues of the

Melbourne Indexers Bulletin.

(Note: When this notice was submitted for publication, it was presumed that all the changes

listed above would have been implemented prior to the production and distribution of this

newsletter. If that has not been the case, any changes that have not yet taken place will

occur in the very near future.)

Karen Gillen, Website Review Subcommittee member

on behalf of the Website Review Subcommittee [Madeleine Davis, Karen Gillen,

Sherrey Quinn]

John Simkin Medal 2020 postponement and Accreditation scheme

suspension

ANZSI Council has decided to postpone the 2020 ANZSI Indexing Medal until 2021 and to

temporarily suspend Accreditation application processing.

This decision has been made because the COVID-19 health situation has changed markedly

and quickly since the call for Medal nominations went out to members in early March as well

as the unknown duration of the pandemic.

ANZSI as an entity has a responsibility not to put its members and volunteers in harm’s way.

Almost all ANZSI’s transactions are digital, however the Medal nomination/judging process

and the Accreditation process both involve the repeated posting, collecting and handling of

packages. All Australian states and territories and New Zealand now have social isolation

ANZSI Newsletter Vol 16, No 2 — April 2020

provisions in place, with only essential journeys outside the home being countenanced. In

circumstances where such journeys are for work, medical appointments, or food and

pharmacy shopping, ANZSI Council does not consider the distribution and re-distribution of

publications for assessment to be essential activity.

The Medal nomination process will recommence in 2021 and the Accreditation scheme will

restart at an appropriate time later this year. All members will be notified via email and/or

the Newsletter.

Date eligibility for the Medal in 2021 will be the same as advertised this year: the published

item must have an imprint date of 2017 or later.

If you had planned to nominate for the Medal this year, please hold your application to send

next year when the process re-opens. If you have already nominated, the Receiving Officer

councilmember1@anzsi.org will be in touch with you.

We also ask that you please hold Accreditation nominations until further notice.

Council regrets having to make this decision, but we all felt that it was necessary given the

current pandemic situation.

Sherrey Quinn, Secretary

ANZSI Library: Commencement of operation

The ANZSI Library now has its own webpage in the Members Area of the ANZSI website at

https://www.anzsi.org/member-area/anzsi-library/.

The full list of holdings of both the Australian and New Zealand collections can be viewed

there.

(Photograph: Karen Gillen)

ANZSI Newsletter Vol 16, No 2 — April 2020

Waiting list

Unfortunately, due to current restrictions aimed at reducing the spread of COVID-19, there

will be some delay in being able to borrow items from either of the collections. While we

wait for the restrictions to be eased, if you are keen to borrow any particular items, please

contact the relevant library officer and ask to be added to the waiting list for those items.

Recent acquisitions

The library has acquired two new items in the past month. Copies will be held in both the

Australian and New Zealand collections:

Bell H, Indexing biographies and other stories of human lives 4th edition, Liverpool, UK:

Liverpool University Press, 2020.

Browne G and Jermey J, Website indexing: Enhancing access to information within websites

2nd edition, Adelaide: Auslib Press, 2004. (This is also available as a free download.)

Donations

If you have any material (books, journals, CDs etc) that you would like to donate to either the

Australian or New Zealand collections, please contact:

Australia: Karen Gillen library@anzsi.org

New Zealand: Carol Dawber carol.dawber@xtra.co.nz

Karen Gillen, Library Officer (Aust)

The indexer as unpaid proofreader

Unless you are being employed by the author/editor/publisher to proofread the text, the

indexer’s role is not to spend an enormous amount of time marking up every minor

grammatical and/or punctuation error in the text. However, noting major errors, that could

impact on the indexing of the text, is extremely important. These major errors can be of two

types: critical errors and significant errors. Both need to be reported to the editor.

Critical errors are ones that will affect the layout of the text and need to be reported to the

author/editor as soon as possible. These include:

• pagination problems

• layout problems

• duplicated text

• wrong font/typeface used across several pages

• figures, tables, illustrations and worked examples missing from the text.

ANZSI Newsletter Vol 16, No 2 — April 2020

Significant errors are ones that will only have a minor impact on the layout but are important

for the author and editor to know about, so that changes/corrections can be made in a timely

manner. These include:

• paragraph that stops mid-sentence, ie. there is missing text

• text that doesn’t make sense, eg. jumbled text or missing words etc.

• factual errors (a quick internet check confirms the information is erroneous)

• variant spelling of the same name or term (let the editor know which spelling you have

gone with)

• misspelling of technical terms, eg. Latin scientific names (include the correct spelling

in the index)

• missing citations/references (which may be important in cited author indexes)

• major errors in tables, eg. missing column.

Types of errors that can probably be ignored and left to the paid proofreader, editor or

author to correct include the following:

• minor typos

• minor grammatical errors, eg. wrong tense

• minor punctuation errors, eg. missing commas.

For many commercial publishers, proofs are sent to the proofreader and the indexer at the

same time. If, as indexer, you find many minor errors, enquire if the text is being proofread.

If not, and assuming you have the appropriate proofreading skills, you could offer your

services, obviously for an appropriate fee.

Max McMaster

Do you have any examples or tales to tell of proofreading? Have you, at the last moment,

rescued and editor or author from a fate worse than… Please send any stories in to the

Newsletter to share with colleagues – doubtless you are not alone.

Ed.

ANZSI Newsletter Vol 16, No 2 — April 2020

Are indexes mandated in public sector documents in Australia?

This question was recently asked of ANZSI by an overseas correspondent. We thought the

information provided in response would be of interest to ANZSI members.

There is no common approach among the three layers of government in Australia

(Commonwealth, state/territory and local).

The Australian Commonwealth government does not have a central publishing service. Some

entities prepare and publish their own publications, but many of them (possibly most of

them) outsource design, preparation, printing and PDF/webpage production to

editing/graphic design companies. Those entities that do their own publications inhouse often

employ freelance editors and indexers, as do graphic design companies. The government

Style manual (6th edition, 2002) contains guidance on indexes but does not mandate them in

government publications.

At the Commonwealth level, indexes are mandated for annual reports for certain entities.

There’s a handy chart of the many types of Commonwealth Government entities at

https://www.finance.gov.au/government/managing-commonwealth-resources/structure-

australian-government-public-sector/pgpa-act-flipchart-list

and more explanation at https://www.finance.gov.au/government/managing-

commonwealth-resources/structure-australian-government-public-sector/types-

australian-government-bodies.

‘Non-corporate Commonwealth entities’, which include departments of state, parliamentary

departments and listed entities, must have an ‘alphabetical index of the contents of the

report (including any appendices)’. There are 98 of these bodies (at February 2020).

The mandatory requirement is set out in Annual reports for non-corporate Commonwealth

entities Resource Management Guide 135 (RMG 135), which is re-issued annually. ‘Part 5(i) –

Aids to access, Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Rule 2014 17AJ Aids to

access’ is the relevant section: https://www.finance.gov.au/government/managing-

commonwealth-resources/annual-report-non-corporate-commonwealth-entities-rmg-

135#-part-5i-aids-to-access-.

RMG 135 is a directive from the Department of Finance and is part of the planning and

reporting framework which gives effect to the Public Governance, Performance and

Accountability Act 2013 (PGPA Act) and Public Governance, Performance and Accountability

Rule 2014 (PGPA Rule).

‘Corporate Commonwealth entities’ are bodies corporate that have a separate legal

personality from the Commonwealth, and generally have enabling legislation that establishes

the scope of their activities and a multi-member accountable authority (such as a Board).

There are 71 of these; examples are the National Museum of Australia and the Australian

Broadcasting Corporation. These bodies also have indexes in their annual reports.

‘Commonwealth companies’ are companies established under the Corporations Act 2001 that

the Commonwealth controls. They are legally separate from the Commonwealth. There are 18

of these, one example being NBN Co. Some of these entities have alphabetical indexes in

ANZSI Newsletter Vol 16, No 2 — April 2020

their annual reports; some don’t. The guideline Annual reports for Commonwealth companies

(RMG 137) does not mention an index: https://www.finance.gov.au/government/managing-

commonwealth-resources/annual-reports-commonwealth-companies-rmg-137.

Commonwealth bodies publish annual reports as PDFs on their websites; a minimum number

as required for tabling in Parliament are also printed. Both versions include the mandatory

information. Some bodies also publish their reports in HTML format as webpages; these do not

include the index (which, of course, references page numbers).

As far as I am aware, no state/territory governments except New South Wales mandate an

index in their annual reports. The NSW Treasury Annual Report Compliance Checklist (page 8)

applies to departments and statutory bodies and includes mention of an ‘index’:

https://www.treasury.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/2019-

09/Annual%20Report%20Compliance%20Checklist%20updated%20for%20September%2020

19%2020190916_2.pdf.

In other state and territory jurisdictions, government bodies make their own decisions about

whether to include an alphabetical index in annual reports or other publications. For

example, many Australian Capital Territory government annual reports do include subject

indexes.

Local government bodies report according to the legislative arrangements governing local

government in their state or territory, and also make their own decisions about inclusion of

indexes.

Annual reports at all level of government can include alternative types of indexes called

‘disclosure indexes’ or ‘compliance indexes’ which set out where (section or page) the report

has met the relevant legislative requirements. This type of index is mandatory for the

Commonwealth entities reporting according the PGPA Act and PGPA Rule. Indexers sometime

compile these indexes.

So the answer to the original question is yes and no.

Many ANZSI members work on annual report indexes each year, but there is clearly scope for

marketing. It’s also apparent that some of the report indexes that can be viewed online are

not written by professional indexers.

Sherrey Quinn

ANZSI Newsletter Vol 16, No 2 — April 2020

Turnbull memoir and the ‘Washington read’

Indexers rule!

‘Indexers rule’ emailed my daughter after watching ‘Insiders’ on ABC TV this morning

(Sunday, 19 April 2020). Greg Sheridan was on the panel and he was asked about Malcolm

Turnbull’s book (A Bigger Picture: an autobiography). He said you read the book through the

index first. My daughter finished the message by saying ‘Greg Sheridan brought into sharp

perspective the power of indexing’.

This reminded me of when Mark Latham's diaries were published and the publisher, Louise

Adler of Melbourne University Press, was interviewed on radio. She was asked who would buy

the book. She said people would check the index and if their name was in the index they

would buy it. Sometime later I was walking through BigW and saw piles of the book on stands

just inside the door. So I checked the index. It was 17 pages in length and set in three

columns. Right at the end of the index there was a note saying that as there were so many

names in the book not every name was indexed - only those names that occurred more

frequently were included in the index. Good publishing ploy to entice people to buy the book

I wonder?

Shirley Campbell

And then…

On Twitter, right wing commentator Parnell [Palme McGuinness] (@parnellpalme) complained

that

‘In perhaps his greatest ever act of political bastardry … Turnbull has not included an index to

his memoir. Folk are actually expected to read the bits that don’t include them!

#unconscionable.’

When another twitterer replied that there is an index and included a photo of some entries,

Parnell comes back with ‘Hmmm. Didn’t see one on the PDF. But you have the hard copy?’

Oops -did that mean that Ms McGuinness had been reading the illegally circulated electronic

copy?

Glenda Browne

Because…

‘The big story this week was the unauthorised distribution of Malcolm Turnbull’s memoir A

Bigger Picture, allegedly by a staffer in the Prime Minister’s Office, which Hardie Grant chief

executive Sandy Grant said the company would be referring to the Australian Federal Police.

Today, Grant confirmed that Hardie Grant has reached a settlement with the staffer for an

‘undisclosed sum’, and that the staffer has disclosed how they got the book and to whom it

was distributed. Members of the book trade have condemned the illegal distribution of

copyrighted material, especially during this time of economic crisis.’ (Books+Publishing,

22 April 2020.)

ANZSI Newsletter Vol 16, No 2 — April 2020

‘This disappointing, blatant and unforgiving act of piracy comes at a time when the Australian

publishing industry—in fact the whole arts industry—is working tirelessly to support

communities access content in different ways while also fighting for survival. The timing of

this unlawful act only illuminates the value of copyright more … It absolutely disrespects

Australian creators.’ (Australian Publishers Association president Lee Walker condemns [the]

leaking of Malcolm Turnbull’s memoir A Bigger Picture.)

Elisabeth Thomas

Volunteer opportunity

Indexers looking for something to do while ‘social distancing’ may be interested in a

volunteer indexing project that’s suitable for both new and experienced indexers.

If you are interested please contact me at secretary@anzsi.org.

Sherrey Quinn, Secretary

Groups news

Canberra Region Indexers Meeting

On 14 March 2020, just a week ahead of lockdown measures coming into force in Australia,

five Canberra Region indexers met for lunch to acknowledge National Indexing Day and to

share their latest indexing news. They were Tracy Harwood, Geraldine Triffitt, Penny

Whitten, Ted Briggs and Shirley Campbell.

The group welcomed a visitor Philippa D’Ews Thomson. Philippa had contacted Glenda

Browne last year enquiring about possible training courses in indexing. As she worked in

Canberra, Glenda passed her details on to the Canberra Group. Philippa has an honours

degree in mammalian embryology and has worked in plant sciences at Australian National

University (ANU). After some years of working in a laboratory she has moved to work in the

area of grant applications where her editing responsibilities have piqued an interest in

indexing. It was a great opportunity for

experienced indexers to sell indexing to

someone young and enthusiastic. Philippa is

exploring studying indexing via one of the

online courses available.

These conversations led to an obvious

conclusion: that indexing is a job

unaffected by social distancing in the time

of COVID-19.

Shirley Campbell

ANZSI Newsletter Vol 16, No 2 — April 2020

NSW NID Q&A teleconference report

On 29 March 2020, NSW Indexers ran a nuts-and-bolts Q&A teleconference meeting to discuss

indexing issues. While initiated by NSW Indexers as our National Indexing Day 2020 event,

participation was welcomed from all ANZSI members. Thirteen people joined the meeting: 6

from NSW, 3 from the ACT, 2 from Victoria, and 1 from Western Australia.

Feedback about the meeting was overwhelmingly positive, and people suggested we should

run meetings like these at least twice per year. Teleconference or videoconference meetings

are a flexible option for getting together as they can be run and accessed by anyone from

anywhere.

Comments in this report have been taken from the discussion and have not been vetted for

accuracy.

Questions were requested, and most were sent to participants in advance. Below is a

summary of some of the topics and points discussed.

The Indexer

Mary Coe, editor of The Indexer, was unable to attend, but sent the question ‘What would

people like to read about in The Indexer?’

People liked the practical reports, including the supplements on names presented as

Centrepieces. It was noted that there is an article by Madeleine Davis on the history of

AusSI/ANZSI in the latest issue.

Embedded indexing

We had lots of questions about embedded indexing, including who has done it, and what tools

they used. Specifically, people were interested in ways of making the process easier in Word,

and how to create ranges in Cindex. We also discussed Index-Manager and a potential webinar

option (see below).

Software used

People had embedded indexes in Word and InDesign, using dedicated indexing software

packages to create the indexing, and either dragging-and-dropping the entries from indexing

software into Word or using the utilities DexEmbed and WordEmbed to do the embedding.

Others had used Index-Manager or had indexed in InDesign. Index-Manager was said to be

elegant but to have a steep learning curve, especially as the manual doesn’t cover everything

you need to know.

Indexing directly in Word is time consuming and clunky. There doesn’t seem to be ways of

making this easier, apart from using an add-on utility. WordEmbed is not Macintosh friendly.

Publisher requirements

One publisher asked for indexes in LaTeX, a document preparation (typesetting) system often

used for technical publications; alternatively, they were willing to receive a list of key index

terms which the production company find would use to generate the index. An alternative

solution was to index to paragraph number so that when pagination was final the production

company could more accurately generate the page numbers.

ANZSI Newsletter Vol 16, No 2 — April 2020

Cambridge University Press provides a Word file, and an indexer had used SKY Index to create

the index, and a utility (DexEmbed, WordEmbed) to embed the index. A marked-up file is

sent along with the Word document to show changes that have to be made by the publisher,

eg, changes in sort order to ignore articles. Someone noted that there are ways to force sort

in Word but they are not mentioned in the documentation.

Page ranges

Page ranges were mentioned a few times as being problematic. In all embedding you have to

be careful about where you place the term for ranges, to ensure that the correct page

content displays when the locator is selected. Drag-and-drop into Word works quite well from

Cindex4 except for creating bookmarks for page ranges and headaches when editing.

Then the question was asked: In an ebook index, do you need ranges? While they might give

an idea of the length of content being pointed to, they are not helpful for knowing when to

stop reading unless page numbers are displayed on the ebook reader, and page sizes are

consistent. So, they might not be worth the effort.

One indexer was impressed with InDesign’s flexibility and range options, being able to say

range 1 paragraph, a set number of paragraphs, or to the next change in style. Also, if you

highlight a name it will invert it for the index.

Potential Index-Manager webinar

ANZSI members have been discussing the possibility of having an Index-Manager webinar run

by Katharina Munk (the creator/owner) at a time when most Australians and New Zealanders

are awake. Expressions of interest were taken.

Index-Manager works on a subscription basis; there is also a 14-day test version, and there are

demo videos on YouTube. Pilar Wyman’s webinar (available for purchase, with a discount for

ANZSI members, from ASI) also provides a good introduction.

Charging for embedded indexing

People agreed that you should charge more for embedded indexing. It takes longer and

requires extra skills and additional software. Estimates were that it takes at least a third as

long as for a traditional index.

Subheadings for main characters in biographies

This request for members’ views was on how best to arrange subheadings for the main

character (and other major characters) in biographies. Hazel Bell, in her book Indexing

Biographies & Other Stories of Human Lives lists the pros and cons of alphabetical versus

chronological arrangements, and comes down in favour of thematic ordering (personal life,

career, character, writings) with some of these subheadings arranged chronologically, others

alphabetically.

Although many indexes to biographies file subheadings for the main character in chronological

order, a number of participants strongly favoured an alphabetical arrangement. Discussion

ensued on whether an indented or a run-on index may also make a difference to the subentry

order; see refs to major parts of a character’s life, career and major exploits may also allow

major chunks to be placed elsewhere and prevent subheadings under the main character

running on for 4–5 pages; placing the year/date at the beginning of a subentry, eg. for

campaigns, wars etc may also allow the indexer to place events in chronological order. It was

noted that Tables of Content may sometimes help the user find major events in the life of the

ANZSI Newsletter Vol 16, No 2 — April 2020

main character, but not always! Another device may be the use of colons or glosses after the

repetition of the name as new main entries. The number of heading levels allowed by the

editor/publisher may also need to be taken into consideration, ie. many editors don’t like the

index going down to a second/third level under a heading.

In the end it was concluded that biography indexing is endlessly fascinating, complex,

irritating and controversial!

ANZSI Council update

Madeleine Davis covered some of the work that Council had been considering, which included

the confirmation of the ANZSI Code of Conduct at the last AGM; the next 20 years of the

ANZSI Newsletter indexing project; the closing date for the John Simkin Medal; the free

indexing libraries being set up in New Zealand and Melbourne/Canberra; and that the Website

Review Subcommittee is currently updating content and structure.

ANZSI currently has 96 members and four Regional Groups – Canberra region, NSW, NZ and SA.

Although it was agreed that social, face-to-face meetings were desirable, there was a lot of

technology to help set up online get-togethers. Skype, Google Duo and Zoom were options to

consider.

Karen Gillen has taken over from Glenda Browne as Education Officer and is investigating

online webinars given the current environment.

Working in times of COVID-19: any impact?

There have been cancellations of international conferences – ASI (who will try to reorganise it

online) the ASC/SCI conference and SI has also cancelled its NID meeting. It was noted that SI

had set up a competition for amateur indexers which was posted on the ANZSI Facebook page.

Discussion covered the facts that some book publication dates have been delayed; private

authors may not have the money to publish at the moment; academic grants may not

continue given the loss of student income for the universities; Monash University Press has put

out a press release saying business as normal; the National Library has cut back on its

publishing, but this may have more to do with overall cutbacks in funding; and the closure of

research/archival libraries may impact on the ability of academics to finalise current/future

publications.

There was consideration that the current pandemic restrictions may mean that more books

will be published online rather than sold in bookshops with implications for the need for

embedded indexes

It was also noted that indexers are better suited than almost any occupation to self-isolation

and discussion ensued around the number of hours per day each of us works before

concentration lapses.

What I’m working on

Projects mentioned included

• trying to create an HTML index for a journal where the PDF pages were arranged in the

order they were scanned, not page number order

• a quote for an index given in 2017 – the publication might be ready by end of this year

• adding Chinese characters after the names in an index on Chinese philosophy

ANZSI Newsletter Vol 16, No 2 — April 2020

• legal indexing is relatively easy as there is no need to change the terminology and the

text is usually well structured, as editors provide almost all the subheadings. This was

countered by the fact that you need to learn a whole new language and that trying to

index legal cases is much more difficult as you need to pinpoint legal concepts, which

is a different mindset to general indexing.

Everyone thought the teleconference meeting had been a success, despite some audio

interference (Redback Conferencing has since apologised for the problem at their end).

Suggestions for another meeting were to canvass finding work and a legal indexing session.

Video versus audio conferencing was discussed with preferences on both sides.

Glenda Browne, Jenny Browne and Madeleine Davis

People

New Member

ANZSI welcomes new member Sharon Betridge of Victoria.

Nikki Davis, Membership Secretary

Accredited Indexer Q&A: Kerryn Burgess

Kerryn has been a member of ANZSI since June 2018 and was awarded ANZSI Accreditation at

the end of that year. As part of our ongoing series of profiles of accredited indexers, Karen

Gillen (ANZSI Treasurer) invited Kerryn to tell us a little about herself.

What was your main training and/or employment before becoming a freelance indexer?

Before I started freelancing, I worked in-house as an editor at various trade publishing houses

in Melbourne and as chief subeditor at Gourmet Traveller magazine in Sydney. I came to

editing via an unfinished music degree from the Victorian College of the Arts, a journalism

degree from Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), and a graduate diploma in

editing and publishing from RMIT.

How did you come to indexing as a career?

Throughout my tertiary studies, I worked as a library assistant, in both public and university

libraries, and that is when I discovered that I enjoy thinking about how information is

organised and stored, and how it can be cherry-picked. As part of my journalism degree, I did

an internship with a senator at Parliament House in Canberra. I felt almost overwhelmed by

the sheer volume of information that swirled around Parliament and flooded the offices of

senators and members. A few years later, as an editor at Lonely Planet, I created my first

index. It was very rudimentary, but I clearly remember the feeling of control that it gave me.

This was in sharp contrast to the sensation I’d had in Canberra: that I couldn’t pin

information down because there was too much of it.

ANZSI Newsletter Vol 16, No 2 — April 2020

So, I was drawn to indexing immediately; I found it calming in a way. Then it was a matter of

practicing, of reading about indexing, and of studying good indexes. Now I think of indexing

as being like taking, interpreting and cataloguing x-rays. You have to be able to see through

the layers of skin and flesh right down to the bones, and you have to give names to the bones.

What are your special areas of interest or expertise as an indexer, and why those?

My main indexing interests are the same as my top

two personal interests: food and gardening. That

extends to cookery, recipes, restaurants, food

chemistry, culinary history, plants, ecosystems,

beekeeping, soil health, permaculture, wildlife –

pretty much anything that’s even tangentially related

to food and the natural world. I live in Kyneton in

regional Victoria where I keep chickens and bees and

grow most of my own food. I index a lot of

biographies too, which present their own special

challenges to the indexer–radiographer.

What advice would you give to other indexers

intending to apply for accreditation?

I would simply congratulate them on their intention

to apply and wish them the best. I believe

accreditation has a crucial part to play in the

maintenance of high standards in the profession. I’m

accredited as an editor with the Institute of

Professional Editors too, for the same reasons.

Vale Susan Curran

Dear colleagues

It is with deep regret that we report the death on 22 March 2020 of Susan Curran, production

editor of The Indexer from October 2004 until its outsourcing at the end of 2018.

My tribute to Susan in the December 2018 issue of The Indexer (vol. 36 no. 4, p.180) spoke

with full confidence of the busy future that lay ahead of her, released from her Indexer

obligations. To the shock of all of us, just six months later, she was diagnosed with what was

clearly a serious, if unidentified, cancer. Her messages to friends and postings to Facebook

over the next nine months were a tribute to the Susan we knew, full of warmth, passion, and

a determination not to let things get the better of her.

Our condolences go to her husband, Paul, and her family. Her funeral is private, but at her

request there will be a celebration of her life when circumstances allow.

Maureen MacGlashan

ANZSI Newsletter Vol 16, No 2 — April 2020

Changed your contact details?

If you’ve changed your home address, email address or phone number, you can update your

details by logging into the Member area of the ANZSI website. This helps us to keep ANZSI’s

records up-to-date and is much appreciated.

If you need any assistance with your password or with updating your record, please email

members@anzsi.org

Nikki Davis, Membership Secretary

ANZSI Newsletter Vol 16, No 2 — April 2020

What’s in The Indexer?

The March issue of The Indexer is out and about.

Did you know that the electronic version of The Indexer is available to subscribers in the last

week of the month before the month of publication? Get ahead with your reading by

subscribing.

More info at https://www.theindexer.org.

ANZSI Newsletter Vol 16, No 2 — April 2020

ANZSI events

For full details, follow a link (if included) or

go directly to the Events webpage.

ANZSI Council meeting

20 April 2020

5:00 – 7:00 pm (AEST), teleconference

ANZSI Council meeting

1 June 2020

5:00 – 7:00 pm (AEST), teleconference

Reminder: ANZSI’s only postal address is

now GPO Box 2069, Canberra ACT 2601.

As mentioned in recent ANZSI Newsletters,

the PO Box in Lawson in NSW has been

closed. Please update your address books.

ANZSI Newsletter Vol 16, No 2 — April 2020

Other events

Society of Indexers (UK) National Indexing Day 2020 – CANCELLED (mostly)

Various promotional events and activities were cancelled. The ID was promoted across social

media #indexday. See the Wakelet story at https://wke.lt/w/s/Ft7rhF.

https://www.indexers.org.uk/news/national-indexing-day-2020/

American Society for Indexing (ASI) Annual Conference 2020 – CANCELLED

23–25 April 2020, St Johns, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA

‘We are working on rescheduling the conference in Raleigh for a similar time in 2021.’

https://www.asindexing.org/news/mar2020/

American Society for Indexing (ASI) 2020 Virtual Conference

Saturday 2 May 2020, US Pacific Time: 8.00am–2.30pm, live online conference via Zoom (no recording)

The theme of the virtual conference is ‘Working smarter to stay ahead’. Details, registration

and payment at https://www.asindexing.org/conference-2020/virtual-program/.

Indexing Society of Canada / Société canadienne d’indexation (ISC/SCI) Conference

2020 : Congrès 2020 – CANCELLED

12-13 June 2020, St Johns, Newfoundland, Canada

‘We have determined [that the] ISC/SCI is cancelling this year’s conference.

We have no plans to hold any online presentations but intend to hold the conference next

year in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Planning for next year’s conference—which we hope to be

similar to what we had planned for this year —will start again in September 2020.’

https://indexers.ca/annual-conference-2/conference-2020-congres-2020-newfoundland/

Society of Indexers (SI) Annual Conference 2020 – CANCELLED

6 October 2020, Birmingham, England

‘Our annual conference (due to be held on 6 October 2020) has now been cancelled.

However, we expect to reschedule the event for spring 2021, when we hope you will join us

in Britain’s second city for a day of indexing-related lectures, workshops and seminars.’

https://www.indexers.org.uk/conference-2020-new-decade-new-directions/

ANZSI Newsletter Vol 16, No 2 — April 2020

Association of Southern African Indexers and Bibliographers (ASAIB) 2020 Conference

22 May 2020, Sabinet offices, Centurion, Gauteng, South Africa

The website lists the date and location but no further information.

https://www.asaib.org.za/index.php/component/jevents/eventdetail/44/-/2020-asaib-

conference?Itemid=1

*** When the world returns to ‘normal’, remember to contact ANZSI Council if you are

interested in formally representing ANZSI at an indexing, or related, conference. Subsidies for

registration and/or partial expenses may be available. ***

‘All reimagined artworks [used in this issue] were by Digital Arts.’

https://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/ at https://www.theartofquarantine.com/

Passed-up Supper adapted from da Vinci’s The Last Supper

A Sunday Afternoon Everywhere adapted from Suerrat’s A Sunday Afternoon on La Grande Jatte

At Home is Lisa adapted from da Vinci’s Mona Lisa

The Scream-less adapted from Munch’s The Scream

ANZSI Newsletter Vol 16, No 2 — April 2020

Contact information

General email: info@anzsi.org

ANZSocietyIndexers

@ANZSI_indexers

ANZSI Council 2019–2020

President: Madeleine Davis

Vice-president: Michael Ramsden

Secretary: Sherrey Quinn

Treasurer: Karen Gillen

Council members: Shirley Campbell,

Elisabeth Thomas, Juliet Richters and Marnie

Hannagan.

Group and regional contacts

Please consult the

ANZSI website for details

of regional and interest groups, and

contacts.

Newsletter

Published by the Australian and New Zealand

Society of Indexers Inc.

GPO Box 2069, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia

ISSN 1832-3855

Indexers Inc.

Editor: Elisabeth Thomas

Assistance from Tanya Edbrooke.

Submissions may be edited for clarity, space

and uniformity of style. Selection of content

is at the discretion of the Editor / ANZSI

Council.

Open the PDF with Adobe Acrobat Reader for

best reading/printing view.

Opinions and statements expressed in the

Newsletter are those of the individual

contributors, and do not necessarily reflect

the opinions of the Society.

All photographs and images, unless

otherwise stated, are Creative Commons CC0

“no copyright reserved”.

Schedule

The ANZSI Newsletter is published six times

a year, every two months.

The next Newsletter will appear in June

2020.

Contribution deadline: Friday, 13 June.

Please email contributions to the editor,

Elisabeth Thomas, at editor@anzsi.org

Advertising rates

Please visit our website.

Life

Easier

with

Index

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