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---------Australian Society of Indexers

NEWSLETTERPO Box R598, Royal Exchange NSW 1225

Volume 21, Number 10, November/December 1997 ISSN 0314-3767

// Contact for Membership

...•..," It appears that there is a growing avenue for distribut-ing the newsletter via email, downloading it from orbrowsing it on the Web site.

The savings of distributing the Newsletter via email ordownload are high - in the order of30% of $3000 =$1000 per year. Labour saved = 30 days per year.

$50 Me/b, Syd, ACT; $40 rest of Australia; $40 Overseas

Phone/Fax: (02) 9560 0102email: gcousins@onaustralia.com.auWWW: http://www.zeta.org.au/-aussiWebmaster/Editor: aussi@zeta.orQ.au Most PageMaker/Acrobat type files are large - over\...-:::==S~============~==::.../400KB each. Pagelvlaker with its richness can be used

Editorial - eNewsletter to produce the Acrobat and paper versions. Ifmoremembers upgraded their systems we could have largerelectronic editions with graphics.

On the other hand HTML is small but requires a lot oflabour intensive editing or use of Word with InternetAssistant to mark up the HTML. The HTMLeNewsletter could be stored on the Web site andaccessed via password by members. Comments anyone?Send them in and we'll do our best... :)

Dwight Walker, EditorlWebmaster ~

Hi! Earlier this month, Iproduced an Adobe Acrobatversion of the October 1997 issue (587KB zipped)downloaded from the AusSI Web site. I sent a survey to90 members with email addresses and received 30responses giving this profile of user preferences:

Windows 3.1=14, Win 95=17, Mac=4, UNIX=2format: text=13, HTML=18, Acrobat=13, Word=6size: lOK=6, 100K=6, 200K=2, 400K=3, 800K=3email=25, Web=29, newsgroup=14, gopher=4graphics: yes=9, may be=7link: 14.4k=5, 28.8k=9, 33.6k=10, permanent=10members: AusSI=24, ASI=2, SI=1, Genie=4wanted eNewsletter=27

Dates for your DiarySociety of Editors (NSW) Inc., SydneyTues 2 Dee Christmas Party, 7.00pmCasa Asturiana (private room) 77 Liverpool St, Sydney,$35.Three course meal, wine and soft drinks provided.No BYO but can purchase own tipples at restaurantbar. RSVP by 25 November, (02) 9552 0039. Anypartying indexers most welcome!

Thur 4 Dec, NSW Branch Lunch, SydneyThe NSW Branch Committee invites one and all to jointhem for lunch:DATE: Thursday 4 December 1997TIME: 12.30-2.00pmPLACE: Duxton Hotel, 88 Alfred Street, Milsons Point

(across the road from Milsons Point railway stationon the Luna Park side)

COST: $19.50 (hot and cold buffet lunch includingcomplimentary glass of champagne)

RSVP: by Friday 28 November to Madeleine Davisph 02-94385354(w); 02-94397028(h);email: mdavis@matra.com.au

Come and meet the Committee, indulge in some witty,sparkling conversation, or just relax and take in theviews of Sydney Harbour.

BACK-OF-BOOKINDEXINGCOURSE, ADELAIDE

March 21-22,1998

An introductory back-of-book indexing course con-ducted by AusSocI will be held on March 21-22 1998at the Writers' Centre 187 Rundle Street, Adelaide.Included will be a half day workshop at NGAP AR TTIMultimedia Centre providing hands on experience witha computer for each participant. Cost of course: $225for AusSI and Society of Editors or Society of Techni-cal Communicators members and concession ($250for others). This includes morning and afternoon teas.

CHRISTMAS drinks 7:00 pm Friday 28th Novemberand dinner 7:30 pm with the Society of Editors (SA) atRuby's Cafe, 255b Rundle Street, Adelaide.For further information and to book contact:Marlene Bell Ph 08-8272 1625orSusan Rintoul 08-8235 1535e-mail: seaview@seaviewpress.com.au

What's InsideIndexers' Medal 1997 Judges' Report 2FutureProof Conference Reviews 3President's Letter: AusSI's Medal and Awards .4ASI Conference, New Frontiers in Indexing, 5/1998.5Report on 'Digital Library Technology '97', Marson 6Letters to the Editor: genie vs local history indexing. 7

Medal '97INDEXERS' MEDAL, 1997

JUDGES' REPORTOnce again, this year, the Australian Society of Index-ers offered its annual Medal for the most outstandingindex to a book or periodical compiled in Australia orNew Zealand. To be eligible for the award, the indexmust be in print and must have been published after1994. While the index must have been compiled inAustralia or New Zealand, the text to which it refersmay have originated or be published elsewhere.

For the award of the Medal, indexes are judged at thelevel of outstanding professional achievement, thussufficient material is required, both in quality andquantity, for appraisal at this level. The index shouldbe substantial in size, the subject matter should becomplex, and the language, form and structure of theindex should demonstrate the indexer's expertise, aswell as serving the needs of the text and of the reader.This year the panel of judges consisted of:• Carmel Maguire, who is Visiting Professor in the

School of Library, Information and Archive Studies,University of New South Wales;

• Janet Donald, who is an editor, librarian andinformation management consultant;

• Kingsley Siebel, who, after a long and distinguishedcareer as a law publisher, is now an equally promi-nent indexer, and Vice-President of the AustralianSociety of Indexers; and

• Alan Walker, a full-time freelance indexer, whowas awarded the Medal in 1989, and who co-ordinated the judging.

The entries this year were of a high standard, andincluded scholarly books, reference books and text-books. No periodical indexes or indexes to technicaldocumentation were submitted, unlike the last twoyears. Despite the overall good quality of the indexes,there was, unfortunately, no single book which stoodout as displaying all the qualities appropriate for theaward of the Medal. Nevertheless, we wish to highlycommend three excellent indexes, listed here (inalphabetical order, by surname ofthe indexer):

First we highly commend Clodagh Jones, who is theonly member of our Society who lives in Tasmania, forher index to The Silence Calling: Australians inAntarctica 1947-97, written by Tim Bowden (AlIen &Unwin, Sydney, 1997). This book is the Jubilee Historyof ANARE, the Australian National Antarctic ResearchExpeditions, which was established in 1947. The bookis a lively and interesting history, as one would expectfrom this author, and this index reflects these qualities.This is one of those (unfortunately, rather rare) indexeswhich is a good read in its own right. At times it isfascinating in its vulgarity-how could a reader resistfollowing up the subentry under "huskies" which reads:"turds appear as mountains, 154"?

The index is also unusually detailed, providing anaverage of thirteen lines of index entries for each pageof text, and since it is a thick book, the index is also

substantial-28 pages of three columns, or nearly 4,500lines. As well as conveying the flavour of the text, theindex entries are thorough and thoughtful, and demon-strate excellent index-craft in matters such as bringingsignificant words to the beginning of subentries.

We found some blemishes attributable to the indexer,but it is particularly disappointing to have to report thatthe index ha~ not been well served by the publisher.While generbus space has been provided, and theprinting is clear and legible, there are some unfortunatebasic editorihl faults, such as not providing "continued"headings fori entries which split over page breaks, and apeculiar systFm of indentation, which detracts signifi-cantly from otherwise good readability.

Second (alpJabetically) is Max McMaster, a formerwinner of th~ Medal, whom we highly commend for hisexcellent index to Exploring Central Australia: society,the environment and the 1894 Horn Expedition, editedby S.R. Morton and D.J. Mulvaney. (Surrey Beatty &Sons, Chipping Norton, NSW, 1996). This is amultidisciplinary anthology of scholarly papers given ata symposium to review the Horn scientific expedition toCentral Australia on its centenary. The papers are inconventional scholarly format, and include articles onhistory, anthropology, environment and biologicalsciences. There are many scientific names and expres-sions in Aboriginal languages, both of which presentchallenges to indexers. This is a highly professionalindex, outstanding in its detail, which will provideresearchers with excellent access to the contents of thebook. The judges had some reservations about theusefulness of the index for non-scientific users. Thepublisher has competently produced the index, instandard scientific format.

Finally, we highly commend Dorothy Prescott for herindex to A Guide to Maps of Australia in BooksPublished 1780-1830: an annotatedcartobibliography, compiled by T.M. Perry andDorothy F. Prescott (National Library of Australia,Canberra, 1996). This handsome book is provided withno fewer than six separate indexes-not universallyconsidered an advantage, but each index has beencompiled in a thoroughly professional and scholarlyway. They cover: Map titles, Titles of inset maps, Mapmakers and publishers, Geographical areas, Subjects,and Ships. Providing subject indexes to maps isnotoriously difficult, and it good to [md that it has notbeen ignored; the glory of these indexes, however, isthe range of name indexes which provide the sort ofreliable access which specialist bibliographers andcartographers will need, appreciate and rely on.

Congratulations to all three.

Alan Walker (on behalf of the judges)[Note: A version of this report was given at theKatoomba conference. Since only one of the highlycommended indexers was present, it is planned to makea presentation to all three at the Annual GeneralMeeting of the Victorian Branch in March 1998.]

2 Australian Society of Indexers Newsletter, Volume 21 No. 10, November/December 1997

FutureProof Conference ReviewsGlenda Browne writes:As well as a chance to network with old friends, the1997 AusSI conference gave us a chance to explore thepossibilities of newer locations for indexing, particu-larly the Internet.

Alan Walker (with Bob Jansen) spoke about indexing amultimedia presentation, where he worked from avideo of speeches. Graham Greenleaf spoke about alegal information service which uses a combination ofmanual (human) and automatic methods to organisetheir service. They store searches (for use with Internetsearch engines) and use targeted Web spiders toretrieve information to keep their service up to date.

Tony Barry gave an overview and update of theInternet, and spoke about potential niche markets forindexing services [especially metadata and searchengines, Ed]. Richard Jones spoke about automatedindexing and summarising software. BemalRajapatirana from the National Library of Australiagave a very clear overview of the concept of metadata,and the development of standards through the DublinCore etc., and it seemed to us that there was potentialwork for indexers and freelance cataloguers here.

There were other sessions and workshops, includingsome that I missed (couldn't get a babysitter for thewhole time - this is a problem with both spouses beingindexers!)

The general feeling seemed to be positive - that therewere new roles for us to fill. It was good to hear of afew specific projects that are happening. If others arelike me there is a feeling of having to fmd our feet,keep an open mind, target the sort of work we'd like todo and then try and get it. Jon and I drove homeinspired, thinking about future directions we mighttake (but with a sneaking suspicion that it might behard to fmd Web sites as interesting and pleasant toindex as the books we currently do).

It was great to see a few overseas indexers there, andquite a number of Australians from interstate.

Sit·····o."••••• '" <>.

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Spares of Lori Lathrop's workbook

When Lori Lathrop ran her Indexing Skills Workshopfor Technical Communicators at the Katoomba confer-ence, there were not enough copies of her workbookavailable for each participant to get one. Lori kindlyleft some spare copies in Sydney before she returned tothe United States. If anyone who attended would like acopy ofthe workbook, please contact Alan Walker (byfax: 02 9368 0174 or email<alan.walker@syd054.aone.net.au».

Conferences

Jonathan Jermey writes:The conference at Katoomba left me impressed with theMountain Heritage Hotel and (as a local) determined totry the dining room again some time. I was out ofsympathy with the keynote address, however, fmding ita variant on the we-know-what's-good-for-you ap-proach. So what if people spend more time having funwith computers than in productive work? If it wasn'tfor fun there'd be no incentive to work at all, wouldthere? And information can be fun, I hope.

I was also out of sympathy with John Simkin's braveattempt to promote professionalism. The question forme is: "Who'll pay for it?" and I don't think Johnanswered that. (If you're in any doubt about the costs ofprofessionalism, ask your doctor about AMA subscrip-tions.) Finding volunteers for yet more hours of freelabour is surely not the answer.

Part of the problem with professionalism is defmingour profession. While it was a great opportunity to meetpeople and discuss projects, the conference made itclear how little some of us have in common. As a part-time cottage industry indexer of books I have only atenuous understanding of the high-powered corporate/University-funded whizzkids who are grappling withthe world of electronic information. (It makes mewonder how many hundreds of 'knowledge engineers'there are out there doing indexing without evenknowing what it's called.) I hope one day to use thetools they provide, but for pure pragmatic advice theworkshop session was much more rewarding.

There was the usual proportion of speeches that wentover time, sure-fire computer demonstrations thatfailed, and forecasts of wonderful things to come RealSoon Now.

And as for the theme - can we futureproof indexing?Do we even want to? Do we want to cling to a vision ofone title, one profession, while around us the publish-ing environment morphs into unrecognisability? Someof us will seize our chances when the computers takeover; others will bow out gracefully. In a world wherecomputerised database searching is an everyday event, Ihope that our information retrieval skills will remain indemand. But as Churchill said: "It is very difficult tomake predictions; especially about the future."

/,W Society of Indexers (UK)

TRAININGIN INDEXINGOpen-learning course for indexing books, pe-riodicals, images and other information me-dia. Write to:

Training Administrator, Society of In-dexers, Mermaid House, 1 Mermaid

Court, London SEl lHR, UK

Australian Society of Indexers Newsletter, Volume 21 No. 10, November/December 1997 3

---~

AwardsPRESIDENT'S LETTER

AusSl's MEDAL AND AWARDS

Dear member,

As the judges' report for the AusSI Medal comments[p.2], no periodical indexes or indexes to technicaldocumentation were submitted this year, and few havebeen submitted in the last three years. This leads me toremark on the appropriateness of AusSI's awards toindexing, as it is at present practised in Australia andNew Zealand. This matter is on the agenda of theNational Executive, which is considering whether oursystem of awards can be developed to better reflect therange of activities to which our members devote theirtime.

What is our present system of awards?

The Medal

The Medal is our oldest award, and may be given toindexers of monographs or periodicals. It has neverattracted many entries outside the categories of aca-demic books, reference books and textbooks, and it hasusually been awarded to the indexer of a scholarlymonograph or reference work. This may not be surpris-ing, and indeed is appropriate, since the award of theMedal requires a substantial index to a complex text.Nevertheless, indexers doing excellent work in otherareas have commented that the requirements for theMedal do not easily apply to the work they do.

The Web Indexing Prize

Last year, and again this year, the Society has alsooffered a Web Indexing Prize, co-ordinated by ourWebmaster, Dwight Walker. This attracted a largenumber of interesting entries last year (described in theApril 1997 issue of The Indexer). This is an importantinitiative, since it recognises indexers' efforts in a newsphere of activity, and (it should be noted) that it is, byits very nature, an international award.

Honorary Life Membership

This is also a most appropriate time to mention anotherAusSI award, with which members may not be famil-iar-for the very good reason that it has never so farbeen given. This is the award of Honorary Life Mem-bership. According to our Constitution this may bebestowed on members in recognition of outstandingservice to indexing and/or the Society. There can be nomore than five Honorary Life Members at anyone time,and no more than two nominations may be presented inanyone year.

r

At the Katoomba conference, I was able to announce,with great pleasure, that two cases supporting theaward of Honorary Life Membership have recently beenmade, and have been accepted unanimously at ameeting of the National Committee. The nominationsmust be presented to the next Annual General Meeting,for voting by members, where a two-thirds majorityshall apply. The two nominees are both very long-standing members of the Society and long-servingmembers of the National Committee, when it was basedin Melbourne. They are Jean Hagger, a distinguishedformer President, and Joyce Gillespie, who was Na-tional Treasurer for over twenty years, and still servesas Treasurer of the Victorian Branch. Full details of thenominations will be pJblished in the next issue of thisNewsletter, before they are presented to the AnnualGeneral Meeting, scheduled for 18 March 1998.

Extending the range

So, that is the range of our awards at the moment: theMedal, the Web Indexing Prize and Honorary LifeMembership. In addition, of course, members maybecome Registered Indexers, after submitting work forassessment, but this is a form of accreditation, ratherthan part of the system of awards for excellence.

We have nothing specifically to recognise the achieve-ments and contributions of (for instance) databaseindexers or CD-ROM indexers or indexers of genea-logical material or children's books or all sorts of otherwork which does not sit easily with the Medal criteria,which were designed to recognise outstanding work inthe area of traditional book and periodical indexing.

Other professional organisations, including many inthe publishing and information industry-as well asothers outside it, such as dentists-s-have establishedvery detailed systems of prizes and awards to recogniseoutstanding work and contributions to the profession.We do need to fmd ways of recognising and rewardinga greater variety of indexing achievement than we do atpresent, both for the sake of those hard-working andhighly accomplished indexers, and also to publicisemore widely the quality of our professional work. TheNational Committee would like to hear from you abouthow we might do this.

Alan WalkerPresident30 October 1997

4 Australian Society of Indexers Newsletter, Volume 21 No. 10, November/December 1997

Conferences1998 American Society of Indexers (ASI) Annual Conference

celebrating its 30th Anniversarywith

the Indexing and Abstracting Society of Canada (IASC)

New Frontiers in IndexingMay 13-16, 1998

Cavanaugh's Inn, Seattle, Washington, USA

Building Your Business for Tomorrow

Prepare yourself for the future! Learn about the latesttrends and important issues affecting Indexers, Writers,Editors, and Publishers.

Professional development is your key to success. Letexperienced, insightful speakers from the U.S., Canada,the U.K., and Australia introduce you to hot topics thathelp you stay on the cutting edge. You can't afford tomiss this conference!

Keynote Address:Successful Freelancing

John Hedtke (http.z/www.oz.netr--jhedtke), an award-winning author of many articles and computer books(which he indexes himself), is an entertaining speakerwhose personal philosophy of late is "If I were havingany more fun, I'd have to be two people." His philoso-phy is infectious. Be prepared to have fun!

A Few Conference Highlights

+ Bidding and Winning: Writing Successful Propos-als

+ Certification Issues (panel discussion)+ Creating Keywords for Online Help+ Database Indexing+ Editing Indexes+ Facing the Text: Content Analysis and Entry

Selection+ Hiring and Training Legal Indexers+ Indexing as a Career: Development Issues+ Indexing CD-ROM Documents+ Indexing Images: New Contexts, New Frontiers+ Indexing in Multilingual and Multicultural

Environments+ Indexing Online Documents+ Internet Searches: Cyber Indexes and

CyberReality?+ Medical Indexing+ Scandals, Missing Persons, & Murderers: An

Indexer's Dream!

Preliminary Conference AgendaWednesday, May 13:7:30 - 9:00 AM Registration Table open9:00 AM - 5:00 PM Full-day and half-day pre-confer-

ence workshops (including lunch)Registration table openExhibitors Hall openSightseeing opportunities

Noon - 1:30 PMNoon - 6:00 PM

Thursday, May 14:7:30 - 9:00 AM Registration Table open9:00 AM - 5:00 PM Full-day and half-day pre-confer-

ence workshops (including lunch)Registration Table openRoundtable discussions (lunchincluded)Exhibitor Hall openSightseeing opportunitiesWelcome Reception

Noon - 1:30 PMNoon - 2:00 PM

Noon - 6:00 PM

6:00 - 8:00 PM

Friday, May 15:7:30 - 9:00 AM9:00 - 10:00 AM10:00 AM - NoonNoon to 2:00 PM

Registration Table openWelcome / Keynote AddressGeneral Session PresentationsRoundtable discussions (lunchincluded)Meet the ExhibitorsPresentationsChapter Leaders MeetingExhibitor Hall openSightseeing opportunitiesAwards Banquet with MurderMystery Dinner Theatre

2:00 to 4:00 PM4:00 to 6:00 PM

6:30 - 9:00 PM

Saturday, May 16:8:00 AM - NoonNoon - 2:00 PM

General Session PresentationsRoundtable discussions (lunchincluded)Post-conference workshopsSightseeing opportunities

Conference RegistrationWant a conference brochure and registration form?Call Lori Lathrop at +1-303-567-4447, ext. 28, or sendan e-mail message to her(76620.456@compuserve.com) and request a confer-ence brochure and registration form.

2:30 - 5:00 PM

Australian Society of Indexers Newsletter, Volume 21 No. 10, November/December 1997 5

a talk on measuring for quality and effectiveness, andwhether existing measures are adequate to improveefficiency in the current environment. Chris hadcollected a lot of statistical evidence for the paper,which highlighted points of general applicability,namely that focus groups can be used effectively. Wealso need to develop partnerships with related indus-tries and firms that have tools to measure quality andeffectiveness from the client's perspective.

The academic library representatives gave excellentaccounts of the thoroughgoing analyses they haveperformed in the area of digital libraries. HelenKnight's practical discussion of "Utilising electronicresources, a working example" gave a "warts and all"description of a CD-ROM network at the University ofSydney (Cumberland College) Library. Delivered witha judicious use of humour, the lesson from this paperwas that nothing ever works completely.

This was followed by another very practical paper onthe collection of statistical data about the usage ofelectronic databases, by Peter Hyland, lecturer inBusiness Systems at the University of Wo lion gong,NSW, which showed that it is possible to obtain a lot ofinformation about library service usage in an auto-mated, non-intrusive manner.

Greg Kelleher of the University of New England, NSW,looked at "Library selection criteria for WWW re-sources" as one strategy for leveraging decliningpurchasing power, in this case for the serials budget.Greg acknowledged that any savings in obtaining serialtitles over the Web could be offset by an increase inassociated IT expenditure. An interesting paper, it wentinto some detail on selecting, cataloguing, accessingand archiving e-journals. The biggest problem is theirarchiving and preservation.

Jacqui Birchall and Neil Grant, both of WollongongUniversity, NSW, gave their paper on "Establishing asecure Web interface for database access", a case studyof their Library's successful transition from standaloneCD-ROM databases to Web interface access. Effectivesecurity using Fortres 101 and ikiosk is in place, andmuch useful information was obtained fronk a discus-sion group called Web41ib.

Hans Groenewegen spoke on electronic reserve (orshort-loan) items. His own Monash University, Vic.,has commenced an ambitious project in approachingpublishers (over 1800 in Monash's case) for permissionto digitise and store articles, books and/or contentspages. Despite an interesting costing formula, half thepublishers in Monash's case did not respond.

Other papers were on copyright issues for libraries inthe knowledge age, looking at issues such as copyrightin hotlinks; copyright in the content of a website;framing; implied license; liability, and imaging andarchiving; cataloguing intemet resources; contractlifecycle management, and Margaret Hyland's papertitled "People make it happen, automation won't -managing your human resources in these times ofchange", which could almost have been a case study in

6 Australian Society of Indexers Newsletter, Volume 21 No. 10, November/December 1997

ConferencesREPORT ON "DIGITAL LIBRARY

TECHNOLOGY '97":a conference on transforming library serv-ices for the digital age, Sydney, Aug '97

This two day conference promised more than it deliv-ered in terms of digital library technology, although itwas still very worthwhile from a government speciallibrary point of view. Most of the speakers were fromacademic and public libraries, however, in my opinion,the best presentation was given by Suzette Boyd, fromMethodist Ladies College, Melbourne. Taking abroader perspective, it was reassuring to be in a forumwith librarians discussing issues gennaine to the newinformation society, as identified by at least three majorcontemporary reports such as the Cutler report (1997),the Hilmer report (1993), and the Karpin report (1995).Papers from the public and State Library contingentranged from the inspiring and witty through to theeminently practical. Mark Grosvenor of Blacktown CityLibrary Service, talked about how to run two kinds oflibraries, one traditional, the other electronic. He spokeabout re engineering library services from a broaderperspective than just information retrieval and docu-ment delivery, echoing themes discussed in manage-ment literature on "marketspace" (Rayport & Sviokla,1995, p.75).Later speakers reiterated that reengineering's purposeshould be to maximise the library's investment inhuman resources, to free staff from mundane tasks.Deirdre Lowe of the State Library of Victoria, in herpaper on "Becoming a library of the future", demon-strated that Victoria is attempting to lead the way inmore areas than just privatization and sporting events.She spoke about Intranets, VICNET and the redevel-oped Trescowthick Information Centre. The lattershowcases the State Library's commitment to makingelectronic information available to users, via one-stopaccess to catalogues, CD-ROM and networkeddatabases, as well as the Internet and EBSCO hosthome page.

Brad McGrath and John Stanton of Liverpool andBaulkham Hills Libraries, NSW, respectively gave astimulating papers on "Document delivery, technologyand customer self-service" and on "Developing anInformation Strategy for your Library", in which theysuggested new strategies to enable end users to requestdirectly from a holding library (for a fee as opposed tothe current vouchers) and a case study outlining somehomegrown methods more effectively satisfying theclient needs. Using the model of his own Fairfield CityLibrary, NSW, Kevin Brennan's entertaining paper puta strong case for libraries to become a key part of theircommunities, both physically and digitally, using Websites, training, community partnerships and othermechanisms. Chris Williams, Director of Library andInformation Services at the State Library of NSW gave

Reprinted with permission

Contact: 100 Allens Creek Road> PO. Box 18609 • Rochester, NY14618-0609Keynote Conferences, PO Box 1126, West Leederville, re!: 716 . 461 . 5530 • Fax: 716 .442 . 3924Western Australia 6901 E-mail: pacificsaleswindexres.cornTel: +618-93823799, Fax +618-93804006,Email: keynote@ca.com.au

management techniques advocated in the Karpinreport. Salient points were that automation can createbetter library services, provided staff and their contribu-tions are valued.The paper by Suzette Boyd from the Methodist LadiesCollege (Melbourne) demonstrated the kind of competi-tive principles held dear by many in this age ofcorporatisation, and could have come straight from thepages of the Hilmer report. Titled "Towards the 21stCentury in electronic library service provision", itcontained so many examples of innovative servicedelivery that it had me wondering whether there hadn'tbeen a typographical error and the title was meant toread "Towards the 22nd Century ..." . The library hasbeen turned around so that at present not only is theschool library packed with staff and students, butparents and members of the local community also usethe library.

Richard Marson, DEETY A, Canberra, ACT<richard.marson@deetya.gov.au>

REFERENCESCutler report: see Information Policy Advisory Council.Hilmer report: see Independent Committee of Inquiry

into Competition Policy in Australia.Karpin report: see Industry Task Force on Leadership

and Management Skills.Independent Committee of Inquiry into Competition

Policy in Australia, 1993. National CompetitionPolicy, AGPS, Canberra.

Industry Task Force on Leadership and ManagementSkills, 1995. Enterprising Nation: RenewingAustralia's managers to meet the challenges of theAsia-Pacific Century, AGPS, Canberra.

Information Policy Advisory Council, 1997. A NationalPolicy Framework for Structural Adjustment Withinthe new Commonwealth of Information, Depart-ment of Communication and the Arts, Canberra.

Rayport, Jeffrey E., Sviokla, John J., 1995. "Exploitingthe virtual value chain", Harvard Business ReviewNovember- December.

9th Australasian Congress onGenealogy and Heraldry

Perth Congress 2000'Let Records Speak'

UniversityofWesternAustralia27 Septem ber - 1 October 2000

Perth, Western Australia• learn of new record sources• British, Australiasian and Asian research• learn technology to store and represent vital links

Letterstothe EditorDate: Sat, 01 Nov 199705:51:03 +1100From: Judy Webster <judyweb@st.net.au>DW: Can you tell me how many genealogists also dolocal history?JW: In a perfect world, the answer would be 100%-though of course a genealogist, by definition, is not thesame thing as a 'family historian' ... which is whatmany of us prefer to be called nowadays. A good familyhistorian cannot study family history without alsostudying some local history, because to do so would beto look at the family without putting them into theirhistorical context.DW: Genealogical indexes seem to be mainlydatabases. Indexers cannot seem to use their analyticalskills on these.JW: While this is true to a large extent, and computerprogrammes generally dictate the format of the index inthose cases, there are still many indexes being com-piled on cards and/or typed. With manual indexing,some training or skill is required even to compile those'genealogical' indexes which consist of personal namesonly (and many do include placenames and othersubject headings as well as personal names). Theindexer requires some knowledge of how to handle andarrange (for example) foreign names, acronyms,surnames without given names (such as 'Mrs. Bloggs'or 'stillborn son of John Smith'), Me/Mac names,names with apostrophes, St/Saint, women's maidenand married names, titles, and so on. Many familyhistorians have no knowledge of the accepted methodsof arranging these. It was for this reason that I wasasked to write an article on indexing methodology, fora future edition of the newsletter of the AustralasianAssociation of Genealogists and Record Agents.

== Indexing ResearchThefull-sennce indexing company

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Australian Society of Indexers Newsletter, Volume 21 No. 10, November/December 1997 7

Editor/Webmaster runs Linuxand Windows 95

/ _r:s:Jf1 ""~ WritingtotheEditor ~COPY DEADLINE: 31 January 1998

AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY OF INDEXERSNATIONAL EXECUTIVE

PO Box R598, Royal Exchange NSW 1225Phone: (02) 9560 0102Email: gcousins@onaustralia.com.au

World Wide Web URL:httpc//www.zeta.org.au/e-aussiWebmaster/Editor Email: aussi@zeta.org.au

President: Alan Walker (02) 9368 0174,fax (02) 9358 5593,email alan.walker@s054.aone.net.au

Vice President: Kingsley Siebel (02) 9477 3149,fax (02) 9476 4378

Secretary: Lorraine Doyle (02) 9936 6229 (w)(02) 9876 4218 (h), fax (02) 9888 2229email doyle l@ozemail.com.au

Membership Secretary: Garry Cousins (02) 95600lO2Treasurer: Tricia Waters (02) 9416 7664 (h),

(02) 9438 2399 (w) (Tue-Thu)Editor: Dwight Walker (see opposite)NSW BRANCH

PO Box R598, Royal Exchange NSW 1225President: Michael Wyatt (02) 9331 7764 (w),

fax (02) 9331 7785, keyword@ozemail.com.auSecretary: Madeleine Davis (02) 9438 5354 (w),

fax (02) 9436 0026, email: mdavis@matra.com.auTreasurer: Pamela Johnstone phone/fax

(02) 4757 3045, pnj@pnc.com.auCommittee Members:

C. Colton, P. Johnson, G. RobertsonVICTORIAN BRANCH

GPO Box 1251, Melbourne Vic 3001President: John Simkin (03) 9429 8817, email:

simmo@entemet.com.auVice Pres: Max McMaster tel/fax (03) 9571 6341

email: mindexer@interconneCt.com.auSecretary: Jenny Restarick, (03) 9545 2178 (w),

fax (03) 9545 2175, email j.restarick@ffp.csiro.auTreasurer: Joyce Gillespie (03) 9654 8527 or

phone/fax (03) 9710 1270Committee Members: G. Levick, M. Findlay,

E. Wood-Ellam, J. McGovern, M. RamsdenACT REGION BRANCH

GPO Box 2069, Canberra ACT 2601President: Geraldine Triffitt (02) 6246 1177

fax (02) 6249 73lO, email grtriffitt@hotmail.comSecretary: Shirley Campbell (02) 6234 2225

fax (02) 6234 2237email Shirley.Campbell@Radford.act.edu.au

Treasurer: Laurelle Tunks (02) 6234 1139email rodtunks@netinfo.com.au

Committee Members: R. Hyslop, L. Farkas,S. MacDougall, A. Peut

QUEENSLAND GROUP with Soc. of Editors (Qld)Contact: Julie Forrest (07) 3353 0120 (h)

email: J.Forrest@mcauley.acu.edu.auSOUTH AUSTRALIAN GROUP with Soc. Ed. (SA)Contact: Susan Rintoul (08) 8235 1535 (h),

fax 08-82359144, seaview@seaviewpress.com.au

8 Australian Society of Indexers Newsletter, Volume 21 No. 10, November/December 1997

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The Indexer (UK)Janet Shuter, Hon. Editor, The Old Chapel, Kings Rd,

Bembridge, Isle of Wig ht, P035 5NB, UKtel +44-1983-874514, fax +44-1983-874656

Shuter@cix.compulink.co.ukCorres. Ed AustINZ: Dwight Walker, $28+membership

I~DEX

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