Don’t blame the books!

I finally had the chance to read Heather Mallick’s column in the Toronto Star on May 20, 2011 (Why Canadian kids can’t read). Hers is an insightful take on the dynamics behind—and what’s at stake with—Ontario school boards’ decisions to cut library staff and funding.

My favourite quote from the article: “Want proof that illiterates won’t prosper? Slate reports that Zappos, a huge U.S. company, has spent large sums correcting spelling errors in its online reviews. Zappos customers won’t buy products — “awsum shoes!” — endorsed by what appear to be simpletons.”

Like many Ontarians, I was dismayed to read about the Windsor-Essex Catholic School Board’s plans to shut down their school libraries and lay off library staff. (Libraries shelved as school boards look for cutbacks).

But I’m glad to see the school board might be reconsidering their decision: Public outcry forces Windsor Catholic board to reconsider library staff layoffs.

Librarians are information superheroes. The next time you visit your local library, tell your librarian how much his or her role means to you.

Maria

It’s October? What happened to the summer?

I just realized that, in blogosphere-time, it has been eons since I last posted (five months, to be precise). It’s not that I’m out of the indexing field—far from it! I’m busier than I have ever been.

Here’s what’s been keeping me away from my blog:

• The Indexing Society of Canada’s conference in Montreal in May: I was too busy listening and learning to be posting! An excellent conference.
• A back injury.
• A communications conference in June. One of the other “hats” I wear is that of communications advisor.
• A horrifying bout of tonsillitis. (Yuck!)
• Family visiting from Vancouver.
• And mostly, one index after another.

I love being so busy. Soon I will post some updates to my Select Titles Indexed page so you can see just how busy I have been. And thankfully, I did have a chance to enjoy the summer.

Thank you to all my clients for the interesting, challenging and stimulating work; and to my indexing peers for always excellent advice and support.

Maria

ISC Conference in Montreal this May

I’m excited to be attending the Indexing Society of Canada’s annual conference this May. It’s taking place at Dawson College in Montreal this year, just before the Editors Association of Canada conference.

There are some great topics and speakers on tap, including: a keynote address by Michèle Hudon, Ph.D., Associate Professor at École de bibliothéconomie et des sciences de l’information (EBSI), Université de Montréal; a seminar on indexing archival images; a show and tell of various indexing tips and tricks; a qi gong session; and an ethics panel discussion. Not to mention what promises to be a lively banquet at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

Best of all, I’ll get to meet—face-to-face—members of the great collective wisdom that is the community of indexers in Canada. I know I’ll come away from the conference feeling well informed and energized from meeting colleagues from across the country.

More details about the conference are available here: http://www.indexers.ca/conf2010.html

Maria

An “indispensable” index

Indexes have a fan in Seth Godin—and in Josh Bernoff, who made an index for Godin’s book Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? that had been published without one.

Read Seth’s response.

On a side note: To me, “indices” makes me think he’s talking about something to do with investments. I prefer the probably-not-grammatically-correct “indexes”. 

Maria

A Celebration of the pangram

I had the chance to re-read Mark Dunn’s Ella Minnow Pea over the weekend.

This little novel tells the story of the fictional island Nollop. Nollop is named for Kevin Nollop, the author of the phrase, “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” The letters of the alphabet are falling, one by one, from a memorial statue to Mr. Nollop, so Nollop’s Council decrees they should be removed from use in letters and speech as well.

In one particularly bureaucratic move when the letter “D” is dropped, and citizens wonder what to call the days of the week, the Council advises Nollop citizens to implement “the following surrogates. Use them freely, for their use honors us all.

     For Sunday, please use Sunshine

     For Monday, please use Monty

     For Tuesday, please use Toes

     For Wednesday, please use Wetty

     For Thursday, please use Thurby

     For Friday, please use Fribs

     For Saturday, please use Satto-gatto”

It’s touching the way Ella bids each letter farewell as it is banished. Ella Minnow Pea a lovely book. I recommend it to anyone who appreciates a good satire of censorship—and a clever new pangram.

Maria

An Olympic error

I stumbled upon this article about the grammatical boo-boo in the “I Believe” song. I love how the expert grammarian quoted in the article blames Canadians’ use of “you and I” on our polite aversion to saying “me.” But I’m pretty sure that Americans are just as guilty.

Maria

P.S.: I’m really hoping that I didn’t make a grammatical mistake in a blog post about a grammatical mistake.

Will a smartphone make me smarter?

There was an article in the Star a few days ago about whether today’s helpful gadgets are really impairing our ability to think for ourselves:

http://www.thestar.com/living/article/750941–are-apps-stealing-our-minds

I’m a little bit of the Luddite the writer refers to in the article. While I am learning to take advantage of the time-saving uses of today’s tech toys, I haven’t yet reached the stage where I completely trust that smooth voice coming out of the GPS. I’m not convinced that a smartphone will actually make me any smarter. I feel validated when experts say that “some independent thinking is required.”

But still, it might be nice to be told what yoga stretches I can do at my desk, or to be able to find a Korean restaurant close to the train station. 

Perhaps the key is finding that balance between listening to your PDA and not ignoring your common sense.

Maria