St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador
June 9–10, 2023
Murray Premises Hotel
5 Beck’s Cove, St. John’s, NL
Picture this: Steep streets lined with rows of art-inspiring brightly coloured maritime houses…a historic harbour…a world-class university…whales to watch…and other incredible things to do and see.
And in between all of that, the chance to boost your indexing skills, hone your business practices, and meet and reconnect with fellow indexers.
The Conference Venue
The conference will be held in the Murray Premises Hotel, situated in a National Historic Site on the St. John’s harbour front. Featuring nineteenth-century exposed masonry walls and wood beams, the hotel oozes charm. More about the venue.
Accommodations at the Murray Premises
The Murray Premises Hotel is offering special rates for conference attendees during the conference as well as 5 days before and 5 days after. The room rates before taxes:
- $179.00 – Traditional Queen Guest Rooms
- $189.00 – Traditional King Guest Rooms
- $199.00 – Signature King Guest Rooms
- $209.00 – Executive (Jacuzzi) Rooms
The room taxes are Tourism Marketing Levy (Room Tax) 4% and Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) 15%.
For reservations, email info@murraypremiseshotel.com or call reservations at 1-709-738-7773 and quote the group block code (you will receive the code when you register).
Conference Program June 9 – 10
This is shaping up to be an exciting conference, with knowledgeable speakers and topics designed to help you grow your business. From live demonstrations to software explanations and a health session that focuses on one of our most important assets—our eyes—we promise you’ll go home enriched and renewed.
Five sessions on Friday June 9 will be followed by the Annual General Meeting at the end of the afternoon and then the Awards Banquet. Six speakers will be featured on Saturday June 10.
Friday, June 9
- A Large Press’s View of Indexing. Phil Getz, Senior Editor at Palgrave Macmillan will give us the behind-the-scenes view of their operations.
- A Musical Interlude. Paula Clarke Bain will discuss the art of indexing music, from scholarly works on classical music through to modern pop/rock trade biographies and memoirs.
- You Had to Be There: Two Experienced Indexers Remember the Indexing Society of Canada Over the Years. The ISC/SCI has been serving the needs of Canadian indexers since the 1970s. Newer indexer Mercedes Brian will interview long-time members Ruth Pincoe and Gillian Watt about the Society, its history, their personal contributions to its development, and the benefits of belonging to a professional association.
- Content Management with Auto-Tagging, Glenda Browne will show us how to use Mondeca to manage thesaurus, ontology, and auto-tagging.
- Book Indexing: A Step-By-Step Guide, the writing of. Stephen Ullstrom shares his experience writing his soon-to-be-published (2023) book on indexing.
- Annual General Meeting
- Awards Banquet
Saturday, June 10
- The Tamil Epic and Linked Indexes: A Study, Ronnie Seagren presents her experience with a straightforward indexing project that grew into a two-year saga. This project has implications for embedded indexes, e-book indexes, scoping a project, and more.
- Running Your Business: Let Software Help. Pierke Bosschieter. shows us ways to improve your efficiency and your enjoyment of indexing using non-indexing software and devices.
- Caring for Your Eyes. A guest presentation by Noubar Kara-Yakoubian (BSc, OD), from the Newfoundland And Labrador Association of Optometrists.
- Project Management with MS Office: How to Keep Up with Your Workload, Sergey Lobachev shows us how to manage your workload so that you can retain more clients without losing your sanity.
- William Lost-His-Pants and More Fun with Medieval Names. While the treatment of names and titles for nobility has been well covered in indexing manuals and handbooks, the by-names used in medieval Europe can pose special challenges. Jolanta Kormonicka will discuss medieval naming conventions, inverting names, and glossing of names.
- Tips of the Trade, Mary Newberry. Tips and tricks for your indexing practice, featuring highlights from Mary’s own experiences, including what to do with the metatopic; how to sneak sub-sub entries into run-in formats; how to know what to index and how to point to ideas that are not directly indexed.
Live Indexing Workshop, Sunday June 11
Award-winning indexer Stephen Ullstrom will index a scholarly article he has not previously read, and discuss his process as he works. This three-hour workshop is offered in addition to the conference program. The workshop runs from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m.
Fireside Chat for New Indexers, Thursday June 8
This one hour session is a conference extra that takes place Thursday afternoon with Mary Newberry. New indexers are invited to ask their burning questions on transitioning from student to practising indexer. Collect your snack at 4 p.m. and bring it to the room for a 4:30 start time.
Iceberg Quest Boat Tour, Thursday June 8 – Full
Our Thursday icebreaker event involves real icebergs…and maybe whales and puffins too! Join us for a two-hour boat tour with Iceberg Quest from the St. John’s harbour. We’ll experience Cape Spear, Cabot Tower, and Fort Amherst from the sea, in an area that has the world’s largest concentration of humpback whales. The tour is from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and it’s fully narrated.
Puffin-Palooza Ecological Reserve Tour, Wednesday June 7
Our pre-conference event takes you on one of the most spectacular sights in nature. Leaving historic St. John’s, we make our way south along the coast to the historic Irish community of Bay Bulls and a boat tour of the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve. This group of four islands is home to more than four million breeding seabirds and North America’s largest colony of Atlantic Puffin. The sheer number of birds is mind-boggling. Icebergs are possible this time of year, and if any are nearby we will certainly take time to enjoy it.
* Lunch is not included on this tour, so make sure to eat beforehand. A canteen with snacks & beverages is available on the boat, but packing snacks is also encouraged.
Pricing and Registration
| Early Bird | After April 30 | |
|---|---|---|
| Members and Affiliates | $300 | $340 |
| —-Friday or Saturday only | $160 | $180 |
| Non-members | $350 | $390 |
| —-Friday or Saturday only | $180 | $200 |
| Students | $160 | $160 |
| —-Friday or Saturday only | $90 | $90 |
| Fireside Chat on Thursday | $10 | $10 |
| Workshop with Stephen Ullstrom on Sunday | $45 | $45 |
| Awards Banquet on Friday evening | $65 | $65 |
| Iceberg Quest Boat Tour Thursday | $99 | |
| Puffin-Palooza Boat Tour Wednesday | $172.50 |
Prices are in Canadian Dollars, all applicable taxes are included
Conference Scholarships for ISC/SCI Members
Applications closed. Thank you to everyone who applied.
Conference Blog
Read the announcements and discover things to do in St. John’s (link takes you to indexers.ca).