When you read all day for work, what do you read for pleasure? Obviously professionals in the publishing industry are book lovers. Otherwise we’d get different jobs. But when eight hours of your day (or thereabouts) is spent poring over books in various stages of development, do you have the ambition to read for pleasure […]
Volunteerism – To Step Up or Step Away?
Whether or not to volunteer for something is a quandary we’ve all faced – in our professional lives and in our personal lives. Do I step up or do I step away? Finding that balance between giving of yourself and saving yourself from over-commitment is an ongoing challenge. As the New England chapter of the […]
Stretching but not Overstepping Knowledge Boundaries
As with many industries, indexers need to know when to accept a project and when to walk away. We all have fields of study in which we work comfortably. Stretching the bounds of that comfort zone is healthy, but recognizing our own limitations is only fair – to our clients and ourselves. By in large, […]
Clarity is key
Clarity of goals between professionals and clients is key. In my case, clarity between indexer and client is key. Communication of the goals and constraints facing a client – whether it be targeting a particular audience, working within a certain index size constraint, capturing buzz words that are critical in a given industry, or style […]
Professional Organization – Enough Bang for the Buck?
Many industries have professional organizations that represent the field and the interests of those employed in that area. Indexing is no exception. The American Society for Indexing (ASI) is the U.S.-based professional organization representing both indexers and the field of indexing as a profession. One of the questions that all professionals must answer for themselves […]