8416 Elko Drive
Ellicott City, MD 21043
410/480-0997
Beginning with a broad liberal arts education that included music theory, the sciences, political science, and art history, I have indexed more than 850 books and annual and semi-annual volumes of scientific and medical journals since 1994. In addition, I have indexed poster abstracts for scientific or medical society conferences. Publishers tend to use my services more than once and, at times, work their projects around my schedule.
I know the publishing process and its various standards, style guides, deadlines, and submission formats. Indexer Pilar Wyman and I developed and presented a workshop on Indexing Style Guides to the American Medical Writers Association and to the annual conference of the American Society for Indexing.
Since conventions evolve over time, I stay current by participating in professional workshops and conferences.
The author is the subject expert. I am an indexing expert. Although an author is naturally concerned that the index will contain the subjects covered in the book, the author need not do anything to ensure this. That's the indexer's job. I read the entire book and consider each section of each page to determine what needs to be included. In short, it's unnecessary to supply a list of terms to be included: I will find them.
I subscribe to and have written on various topics for Key Words (Bulletin of the American Society for Indexing). I participate in Internet forums where indexing is discussed by an international group of indexers and to others about how to use the latest software to achieve the results our clients require, and subscribe to and read The Indexer, the international journal produced by the Society of Indexers in the United Kingdom.
Active in professional organizations, I served the Mid- and South-Atlantic Chapter of the American Society for Indexing (MSA/ASI) more than once as treasurer, vice chair, and chair. I served as chair of the ASI/H.W. Wilson Award committee to honor excellence in indexing for indexes published in 2005 and served as a judge of that same committee for indexes published in 2004 and 2006. Currently I am treasurer of the Gardening/Environmental Studies Special Interest Group of the American Society for Indexing.