I'm astounded at how busy everyone got in just the last two months. Congratulations! So while you eat your lunch in front of your computer, enjoy the contents of my second president's letter. It's longer than the last one, but that should come as no surprise: ASI has been busy, too.

Key Words
After six wonderful years, Pilar Wyman's contract as the editor of Key Words concludes at the end of 2006. We have seen over and over again that our members consider Key Words a critical benefit of ASI membership. I gushingly thank Pilar for everything she's done to make that happen.

Now, I am delighted to announce that Judy Reveal has been selected as the new editor of Key Words. A past president and secretary of the Maryland Writers' Association, Judy is a book indexer who also works as the executive director of the Kent County (MD) Chamber of Commerce.

With Judy's first issue coming in 2007, this is also a good time to implement some very important improvements. There are four I want to mention right now.

First, over the next few issues we'll start to replace dated content (e.g., event listings) with more current and relevant content, such as articles. Second, we're working to build an editorial committee to assist Judy in acquiring content and to better serve our readers with variety and consistency. Third, ASI is continuing to investigate the possibility of licensing our content; in this way our authors receive greater recognition, our content reaches more people, ASI is paid a royalty, and the indexing industry is made more visible around the world. Fourth, and most promising, Key Words will investigate the incorporation of peer review for submitted articles. Not only would this help us regulate the quality of the articles you read, but this also opens up our newsletter to contributions from those in the academic community, for whom peer review is a necessary requirement for publication credit.

If you're interested in contributing to Key Words in any capacity, please write keywords@asindexing.org.

ASI Training in Indexing Certificate Course
Look for the brochure announcing the availability of ASI's Training in Indexing course. This should be arriving in your mailbox any day now, and it includes enrollment information. The units of study are ready to ship, and the examination papers and scoring schemes have been devised. Other adjunct activities to support students in their studies are being organized. For the present, please remember that only ASI members may enroll in the course and that examinations leading to a certificate of completion are available only to ASI members in good standing. A huge round of applause goes to the many people involved: Katie Bright Banks, Sandi Frank, Leah Hotimlanska, Terri Hudoba, Frances Lennie (coordinator), Marion Lerner-Levine, Janet Perlman (see below), Carol Roberts, Kay Schlembach, Pilar Wyman, and Carolyn Weaver.

Two More Appointments
Janet Perlman has accepted the position of Course Administrator for the indexing course mentioned above. Janet has more than 25 years of experience in indexing. Her company, Southwest Indexing, specialized in scientific and engineering materials, and also provides indexing services for Spanish-language materials. Janet has served ASI before, at both state and national levels. She is editor of Running an Indexing Business (ITI 2002) and has delivered workshops on business aspects of index practice and on indexing quality. Janet has served on the judging panel for the H. W. Wilson Award for Excellence in Indexing, chairing that committee in 2004. Her ongoing interest has been quality in indexing and the education of indexers. In fact, she tells me that serving as Course Administrator is a challenge she is excited to take on. Her email address is trainingcourse@asindexing.org.

Carol Roberts has helped us create a new position, the Volunteer Coordinator. The coordinator's job is to help members find opportunities to volunteer within ASI, to help ASI committees and the board find volunteers, and to track volunteerism so that we can publicly recognize any member who gets involved. Carol herself developed this role after exiting the board in June, so let me tell you a bit about her. She's a freelance indexer of some 13 years, working mostly on scholarly books in the humanities. Her recent ASI role was as our secretary; also, she has presented workshops at chapter and national events, and contributed to ASI publications. Carol has two master's degrees in philosophy (as she tells it, "it's a long story..."), one from SUNY Albany and the other from Cornell University. Some of her non-indexing passions are her two daughters, her new puppy, photography, ballroom dancing, tennis, and bird watching. If you have a volunteering need or question, write Carol at volunteer@asindexing.org. I also encourage you to regularly visit our the ASI website for our current call for volunteers.

Conference Update
A highlight of the 2007 Annual Conference in Philadelphia will be ASI's celebration of its 40th anniversary as a society. While ASI was officially founded on November 18, 1968, this "founding day" represents the culmination of a year-long effort by U.S. members of the Society of Indexers to declare their independence from the mother society. The anniversary luncheon on Saturday, May 26, will honor those founding members who made it happen. Luncheon speakers will include four former ASI Presidents—Alan Greengrass, Barbara Preschel, Dorothy Thomas, and Diana Witt—whose respective terms span the history of the Society from 1968 through the early 2000s. This session is not to be missed!

And just recently, the board has voted to approve a one-day, mid-year conference, to take place in February! As soon as the event is finalized, you'll be hearing from us again.

Strategic Plan Follow-up
By now I hope you've read our report on strategic planning. (It's accessible in the Members Area of our website.) I'd like to report some of what we've implemented, in brief, since the plan was accepted.

There are six basic elements to our strategic plan. For the first, improving the value of ASI, we've been working to expand member benefits, from discounts on office supplies to the availability of liability insurance. We've built a "So You Want to Be an Indexer" page, accessible directly from the home page of our website, to help potential indexers discover the value in ASI and its members. (Having a page like this is important as we boost our publicity efforts.) We're also continuing to explore organizational membership possibilities.

For the second strategic goal, establishing ASI as the recognized source of expertise on indexing, in addition to the many other items mentioned in this letter, we're looking at indexing education for younger school grades. We're issuing more press releases than ever before, and we're investigating an opportunity to license Key Words articles. Increasing our reach takes time, and I think we're definitely on the right track.

For the third goal, enhancing communication with members, does this groovy president's newsletter count? Another noteworthy activity includes sharing our comprehensive report on strategic planning, which includes some valuable survey results. We've rebuilt the chapter manual and are in the process of collecting feedback from the chapters. We developed a bereavement policy. We're improving Key Words, as described above. Finally, we've created the Volunteer Coordinator position to make sure every member is counted.

The fourth goal, developing synergistic efforts with other organizations, is a long-term objective and will take time to develop. I've been following up on our relationship with Microsoft, and in September we issued a press release about an indexing presentation for the American Association of Law Libraries. Also, I'm talking casually to both the STC president and the former members of STC's Indexing SIG. Relationship building is hard work, and in fact we can use your help. If you know someone at an organization that would benefit from a connection to ASI (and vice versa), send me an email.

The fifth, developing education programs, has already been attained by the launch of the ASI Training in Indexing Certificate Course (see above). We're also exploring the creation of some publications that will be advocates for quality indexing, including a few short white papers and at least one book.

Finally, regarding our sixth objective, ensuring financial stability, we have written new policies regarding ASI's financial reserves and revamped the reimbursement guidelines for board members. We will also be working on next year's budget and keeping an eye on our membership numbers.

We're serious about improving and even remaking ASI, and there are lots of opportunities for you to be a part of this process. Whether you're a new member of the society or not, please contact me at president@asindexing.org with your ideas and interests. I'll make sure you're immediately connected to the people who are getting things done.

The New Legal Indexing SIG
Of course, not everything fits neatly into our strategic plan. (As indexers, you should know this.) One great event is the creation of our new Legal Indexing Special Interest Group, something that has the potential to meet many of these goals. Please congratulate and thank Mary Harper and Maria Sosnowski for making this happen, along with additional assistance from SIG Coordinator Ina Gravitz, board liaison Julie Kawabata, and SIG members Susan Barnes, Andrea Birgers, Kate Mertes, Sandi Schroeder, and Mary Wendt

Disability Insurance and Other Benefits
Many of our members don't know that ASI has a relationship with Mutual of Omaha, a national provider of disability insurance. As a member of ASI, you may be entitled to sign up for disability insurance at a special rate. To promote the value of this relationship (and the importance of disability insurance in general), representatives from Mutual of Omaha have spoken to the New England Chapter and are scheduled to speak at our national meeting in Philadelphia. If you are interested in having someone speak at your meeting, write me, and I'll find someone in your neighborhood.

Of course, the question of disability insurance is only one issue facing self-employed individuals in our business. ASI has also been exploring issues of intellectual property, professional liability insurance (with help from Jeannine McAllister), and even health insurance. As more information becomes available, we'll be sure to let you know. In the meantime, if you know of some other way the organizational power of ASI can better serve you personally, contact our office at info@asindexing.org.

I'd also like to use this section to remind people about our Amazon.com affiliation. If you're shopping at Amazon, type www.asindexing.org/amazon into your browser and you'll be redirected to the Amazon home page. After that, ASI will receive a financial bonus for anything you buy. We're also investigating additional affiliations; if you have an idea that would benefit our members, let me know.

Thank You
Like a chocoholic in a candy store, I revel in the volunteer efforts of so many of our members. In addition to those mentioned above, I'd also like to thank (alphabetically!) some other helpful, generous people. Dick Bower, one of our esteemed webmasters, helped me build an informational page for potential indexers (and members); Mary Harper helped me with a new ASI Web page (in addition to her work starting the Legal SIG); Terri Hudoba for building the new draft of the Chapter Manual; Jeannine McAllister is helping the national board investigate a variety of professional benefits that ASI can offer members, such as liability insurance; Eleanor Mann wrote for us an updated, reasonable, and lucid board reimbursement policy; Pilar Wyman gave immeasurably in the search for a new Key Words editor. I must also mention the new Chicago-Great Lakes Chapter officers, Leoni Z. McVey, Mary Wendt, Jackie Wilson, and Caryl Wenzel, for keeping the chapter exciting, and Deborah Patton, for helping transform the former Washington D.C. Chapter into the even-more-inclusive Mid- and South-Atlantic Chapter.

Additional and special thanks to Hannah Huse who, long before my presidency, laid the groundwork on which our Special Interest Groups were built. If she's never gotten ASI-wide recognition for this role before, I'm honored to change that right now. Thank you, Hannah! As you can see, our SIGs offerings are really wonderful.

And To Prove We're Listening...
One of you challenged me to use the word Zamboni in this letter. I have met your challenge herewith.

ASI is your organization. It is up to you to make our society what you want it to be. The board's job is to represent and support our members. So if you've got something you need to share with us (that's not a Zamboni), let us know and keep us busy.

Sincerely,

Seth Maislin
ASI President, 2006–2007

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