General Sessions

Friday morning
8:45 - 11:45
Databased Systemwide Bibliographies: David Blyth
A bibliographical entry typically consists of an author, the name of the article, a journal name, and a date. When these four items are seen as fields, then the entry itself becomes a record in a database. A bibliographic database allows multiple bibliographies to be searched, sorted, or manipulated simultaneously
Dave Blyth has a BA in Cognitive Studies and has also studied Religion, History, Literature and Computer Science. He's currently working on his MA in Educational Technology at San Diego State University

Multiple Index Publications: Four Case Studies: David Ream
This session will show four different system models for generating multiple indexes to a publication. Two of the editorial systems use a database approach and two use dedicated indexing preparation software. The approaches will be discussed and contrasted.
Mr. Ream has worked in the publishing industry since 1973. His programming and consulting experiences include the development of editorial, database, and typesetting systems as well as custom software for publishers of all types. LevTech is also the corporate/government partner for Indexing Research's CINDEX product line.

The Tools We Need Now for Technical Indexing: Caroline Parks and Jan Wright
This presentation will focus on the new requirements of technical indexing (e.g., embedded indexing, online help indexing, and Web indexing), and the need for the indexing process to "circumnavigate" the client's files -- indexing codes must be extracted from the documents so that teams can be working simultaneously on writing, editing, and layout, as well as indexing -- and then the keywords are inserted back into the files at the end of the journey. Current tool shortcomings will be discussed, leading to an outline of the tools that must be developed in order for indexers to work effectively in the high-tech industry.
Caroline Parks has been doing technical indexing for 4 years, and was recently involved in a massive team effort to complete the Windows 2000 online help index, working with 5 other indexers and over 40 writers. Both Caroline and Jan have used several proprietary tools for embedded and online help indexing, all of which leave lots to be desired, and would like to see the development of commercial indexing software and modules that would us do our work easier.
With nearly 15 years of experience in the software industry, Jan Wright's clients have included Microsoft, Visio, Asymetrix, and the Washington State Insurance Commissioner. One recent project involved generating style guides and training editorial staff for a massive online indexing effort involving over 100,000 technical documents, written by over 40 different departments at Microsoft.

Saturday morning
8:45 - 11:45 am
Indexing the Totally MAD CD-ROM Archive: Dr. Ellen Brodsky
Dr. Brodsky gives an overview of the special challenges faced to index 22,000 pages of MAD Magazine material on a CD-ROM. She will show examples from the Totally MAD indexing files and databases, explain something about the indexing process and how the databases and files worked. She will demonstrate the Search feature in the product and field questions from the audience.
Dr. Ellen Brodsky is the Producer of Totally MAD, the CD-ROM archive of every issue of MAD Magazine. She led the indexing team for the project, and worked with engineers and MAD experts to design the index process and strategy. Reviewers have raved about the search engine and how it can find even obscure memories amid the 22,000 pages of MAD trash.

Development of Controlled Vocabularies for Moving Image Documents (MIDs): Dr. Kathleen Haynes
The paper will review current research and development of controlled vocabularies for moving image documents (MIDs). There is a critical need for improved subject access to moving image collections that contain ordinary images. Indexers need to analyze the materials to include ways for users to determine what the image exemplifies (the genre or form) and what the image is of or about. All images (stock shots, still frames, moving picture elements, etc.) have ofness, and finished products or long sequences of shots have a context so aboutness can be addressed. Vocabularies need to assist in assigning terms for both, but part of the difficulty is that ofness and aboutness are not distinguished in many subject lists. The users also need retrieval that supports a variety of user tasks related to semantic representations of information objects, linking and combining techniques, and provision for review of the actual images.
Kathleen J. M. Haynes is an associate professor in the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Oklahoma. She earned her Ph.D. in Library and Information Studies at Texas Woman's University and her Master of Library Science from OU. She teaches the organization of knowledge, indexing, archives and records management, and information systems.

The Mysteries of Fiction Indexing: Mary Ann G. Chulick
Everyone who has ever enjoyed a mystery series knows how helpful an index to that series would be. After the reader has finished five or six of the books, there may be questions like, "When did that character first come into the series? What did the murderer say that made the detective suspect him?" When Dave Ream of Leverage Technology Inc. wanted an index to display on his Web site, he decided to have one created for a favorite mystery series--Les Roberts' Milan Jacovich novels. The indexer worked with both Dave and Les Roberts to come up with an index that would satisfy all three.
Mary Ann G. Chulick trained to be a librarian, but took a job with a small Ohio legal publishing company until a library position turned up. Almost twenty years later, Mary Ann is still indexing the laws of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and Connecticut. The company is now owned by West Group and Mary Ann is the Principal Indexing Specialist at the Cleveland office.

A History of Indexing Style: Frances Lennie and Kate Mertes
If there's more than one way to skin a cat, there are a hundred ways to design an index. It's easy to get used to a particular style and a set of rules for constructing an index, especially since so many of us specialize in types of book or subject matter. Looking at historical and modern indexing styles is a good way to find new solutions to indexing problems - and a good way to find out how NOT to do an index.
Frances S. Lennie has been indexing for 23 years, focusing mainly on clinical and research-oriented medical texts. Over the years Frances has tackled indexing projects that have demanded diverse approaches, and currently specializes in converting and cumulating material from existing indexes
Kate Mertes is a freelance editor with over 20 years' experience in publishing, writing, and indexing. She currently specializes in legal and academic indexing, especially large and complex projects, and writes screenplays on the side. Kate is also a director of ASI.