A blue foiled background with the white LUP logo on the left, featuring the Indexer cover to the right which comprises a deep blue journal cover with streaks of fibreoptic light across the front, with 'The Indexer' written at the bottom in white text, with the subtitle 'The International Journal of Indexing' written beneath in light blue text.

National Indexing Day | The Indexer
Celebrate National Indexing Day 2026 with a free issue of @indexer.bsky.social. Read it online via the LUP website:
➡️ bit.ly/IndexFTR26
@indexers.bsky.social @cilip.bsky.social @djbduncan.bsky.social @baindex.org
#IndexDay

What is an index, and why is it important? An index is a map; it makes the information in books accessible to readers. It gives a sense of the coverage of the book, and whether it contains the information you need. And you can go back after reading to find what you want #IndexDay buff.ly/LMIHOqs

Indexers are often asked if they read every word. Yes, we do! And the indexer's eyes will often be the last to do so before the book comes out. We will raise any issues we spot. It's not a free proofread, but it is a quality check.

ISC/SCI Virtual Conference 2026: Keynote Speaker Danny Bate!

Danny Bate’s keynote address "Who ordered the alphabet?" will be an anti-chronological journey into the English alphabet. The theme: nothing about our alphabet is fixed. Register now: conference.indexers.ca

ISC/SCI Virtual Conference 2026: AI Initiatives with Elizabeth Bartmess

AI chatbots don't produce viable indexes, but works that appear sufficiently like indexes that they may trick people into believing they can serve as an index. Where do we go from here?

Register now: www.conference.indexers.ca

ISC/SCI Virtual Conference 2026: Iva Cheung

Cheung covers the definition of plain language and indexing's role in meeting that definition, the development of the indexing clause in the Plain Language standard, and that clause’s possible impact on indexers.

Register now: www.conference.indexers.ca

ISC/SCI Virtual Conference 2026: Regular Expressions with Larisa Smyk

Regular Expressions are useful for assisting indexers in automating repetitive tasks, serving as a kind of "advanced search" mechanism to find, extract, edit, or remove patterns of text.

Register now: www.conference.indexers.ca

National Indexing Day 2026 The Society of Indexers is celebrating National Indexing Day for the tenth successive year on Tuesday 31 March 2026. This year we will be celebrating with a hal

What value do indexes add? How can you identify a good index? What skills and qualities do professional indexers bring to an indexing project? Indexer @baindex.org will explore all these points at our 31 March #IndexDay workshops for publishing professionals. Book your place now at buff.ly/f0W1mZC

I’m sorry WHAT

A comic drawn digitally with two panels. First panel has one black cat on the left asking a white cat on the right "so what do you do for a living?" Second panel the white cat answered with a silly face "My best?"

don't we all

#art #cuteart #comic #cat

baby assistant brown dog

experienced assistant brown dog

baby assistant black dog

experienced assistant black dog

shout out to these two sweeties who have been competently assisting this indexer for a number of years

National Indexing Day 2026 The Society of Indexers is celebrating National Indexing Day for the tenth successive year on Tuesday 31 March 2026. This year we will be celebrating with a hal

The full programme for our #IndexDay workshop for publishing professionals on 31 March @publishersassoc.bsky.social is out. Join experienced professional indexers to discuss a range of indexing topics. See the programme and book your place here - places are limited, so book soon!

🔈📚 Your scholarly book publishing dreams could come true...

The HSRC Press is seeking original scholarly manuscripts that drive transformation in knowledge production across South Africa, Africa, and the Global South.

All the details here: https://loom.ly/RzT2a5g

small brown dog sleeping on a bed with many blankets

sunday afternoon snooze

I know not to judge a book by it's cover, but I have started judging a book by its index comma lack thereof. A good index is real work, and I'm coming around to noticing a pattern that if the publisher didn't think the book was worth the effort, it's not very good.

old sliding puzzle with all the letters of the alphabet

letters

"At this time, AI cannot replace professional book indexers and we are doubtful that it will be able to do so soon, or even at all." #IndexSky
asindexing.org/ai-news/whit....

Launch of this volume tonight at Ike’s Books in Durban, in which I have a chapter on classical education.

Cover of a book placed on a brown table. The cover reads "No Last Place to Rest: Coal Mining and Dispossession in South Africa" and the cover image shows an overgrown graveyard in a rural landscape.

Finished this good but discomforting book by Dineo Skosana about how modern coal mining in South Africa requires the removal of the dead.

I always say history's a growth area, there's more of it every day.

smollish fluffy black dog being a watchdog for the indexer, oh wait no... oh, she left cause she heard some noise in the kitchen

the indexer's waghond

a very soft and fluffy white and black small dog sleepily showing off her white eyelashes

indexing nownow, just staring at these beautiful white eyelashes for a bit

“What is common knowledge in your field, but shocks outsiders?”

Indexers actually read all the text and choose the words for the index carefully. Their software is there to support their work, not do the intellectual bit.

Passing through - Iva Cheung

MAY CARTOON: ivacheung.com/2025/05/pass... #AmIndexing

little long nosed dog snuggling in blankets

cold morning, indexing later

Hi, #JewSky, I’m looking for an indexer with experience indexing Jewish Studies academic books. If you are one, or know one, please reply or PM me. I already looked at the American Society for Indexing’s Indexer Locator, but I found fewer options there than I was expecting. Thanks!

The Society, Work and Politics Institute, with Wits University Press, will launch of Dineo Skosana’s No Last Place to Rest: Coal Mining and Dispossession in South Africa. Skosana will be in conversation with Adv. Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, Dr Mbongiseni Buthelezi and Ms Mbonwa, the launch will be chaired by Niren Tolsi. Tuesday 15 April 2025, 17:30 for 18:00 at the Humanities Graduate Centre Seminar Room (East Campus, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg) RSVP: swop.wits@gmail.com

Book launch: No Last Place to Rest — Coal Mining and Disposession in South Africa by Dineo Skosana

Date: 15 April 2025
Time: 17:30 for 18:00
Venue: Humanities Graduate Centre Seminar Room (Wits, East Campus)

Good morning! I'm telling myself that I can't get too panicky to meet my deadlines and do good work because then I'll just be giving my clients more stuff to panic about! "The economy is collapsing *and* I got a shitty index??"

For National Indexing Day, here's the fine work of Bill Johncocks indexing MY HEAD FOR A TREE for @profilebooks.bsky.social
Here he's dealing with the fact that most Bishnois share a last name.
#indexday

But as A. S. Byatt points out, indexes can also be a great source of pleasure and enjoyment for readers. Making an index requires creativity and insight as well as the ability to analyse, order and categorise information.