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	New England Chapter American Society of Indexers Past Events

Fall 2004 Conference Summary

October 16, 2004
Westborough, Massachusetts

The 2004 annual fall conference of the New England Chapter of the American Society of Indexers was a full-day event held Saturday, October 16, at the Wyndham Westborough Hotel.

Moving Beyond the Back of the Book: Thesaurus Construction

Presented by Sidney Berger

Dr. Sidney Berger is a professor in the Departments of English and Communications at Simmons College. The author of more than a dozen books on literature, book design, and book history, he is a printer, papermaker, type caster and book historian. He is also a thesaurus constructor, having done one for the American Library Association and another for a consortium of libraries in Europe. Dr. Berger shared his experiences in creating his two thesauri, talking about what to do, what not to do, and whom not to work with in this perilous endeavor.

Health Insurance and the Home-Based Business  

Presented by Jeff Busha

A presentation on health insurance options for the self-employed was given by Jeff Busha of the Small Business Service Bureau, a national firm headquartered in Worcester, MA, which provides insurance and financial services to small businesses. One of the options discussed was the new medical savings accounts.

Specialty Indexing Series: Periodical Indexing

Presented by Marilyn Rowland

Marilyn Rowland of Marisol Productions has over thirty years' experience in indexing and has served both as President of the Massachusetts Society of Indexers and as a board member for ASI. She presented a workshop on periodicals indexing, showing her examples of the indexes of This Old House magazine and the Chronicle of the Early American Industries Association (for collectors of antique tools), both of which also exist online.

The presentation included discussions of the different types of periodicals that are indexed, the different types of periodical indexes, the difference between book and periodical indexing, the issue of consistency in indexing, the development of an indexing style and policy for a periodical, and business aspects of periodical indexing. A hands-on workshop gave attendees the opportunity to scan through a copy of periodical to consider which articles to select for indexing.