ASAIB Newsletter no. 23

No 23, September 2006

CONTENTS

NEWSFLASH: ASAIB AGM and breakfast 30 November 2006

1 ASAIB Conference 2006 report – Katrien Malan
2 A pleasant surprise
3 News from our secretary
4 News from Peter Underwood
5 Call for papers 2007
6 Six by Six. Views from Beyond Forty… : Maryna Fraser
7 Item of interest: Ancient prayer book
8 Nigerian travels – Terry Barringer

NEWSFLASHNEWSFLASHNEWSFLASHNEWSFLASHNEWSFLASHNEWS
ASAIB AGM 30 November 2006 at 08:30 for 09:00

Venue: Wits Club, Dutch Cape Cottages
West Campus, Wits University
1 Jan Smuts Avenue
Milner Park

Cost: R60-00 pp (payable to Peter Duncan at the breakfast)

The breakfast will start strictly at 09:00. We must leave at 11:00 since the restaurant must prepare for a Christmas Lunch.

Guest Speaker: Gillian Carman will talk about her book, Uplifting the Colonial Philistine: Florence Phillips and the making of the Johannesburg Art Gallery.

Election of ASAIB Executive Committee: Nominations must be send to Marlene Burger burgem@unisa.ac.za or Madely du Preez preezm@unisa.ac.za Nominees must be able to attend a meeting once a month at 13:00 in either Johannesburg or Pretoria. The current committee is prepared to serve another term. There is one vacancy.


1 ASAIB Conference 2006 report – Katrien Malan

ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHERN AFRICAN INDEXERS AND BIBLIOGRAPHERS
CONFERENCE: AFRICANA – FROM PAPYRUS TO METADATA
HELD AT THE MILITARY MUSEUM JOHANNESBURG 11-12 MAY 2006

The Brenthurst Library

The conference held at the Military Museum was attended by enthusiastic librarians/archivists /book sellers/academics from all over the country.

Papers were presented by skilful and dedicated people with expertise in their various fields. Annette le Roux of Unisa kicked off with her paper: Africana in context. She gave us background on the term Africana, when it was first used, what is new/modern Africana and what will become Africana in future. A highlight was the theme by Prof E.J. Carruthers on: Passages through nineteenth-century Southern Africa and beyond: re evaluating Africana - Thomas Baines 1825-1875. Mr Peter Duncan of the William Cullen Library University of the Witwatersrand gave some practical considerations on book restoration and conservation. We also had an auctioneers viewpoint on Africana collections by Mr Antony Wiley of Wiley Antique Valuers. There were also contributions by Ms HW Latsky, University of Johannesburg, Ms MA Coetzee of Unisa and MS M Graham of the Brenthhurst Library. The conference was concluded with the paper by Ms A.P.J. Watkins of Unisa library on Metadata: a tool for adding value to rare books.

A delicious lunch of soup and bread was served and there was even time to browse the exhibitions of military weapons, medals, armoured fighting vehicles, uniforms etc. on display on the grounds of the Military Museum

On Friday (12 May) we paid a visit to the Brenthurst Library, one of the foremost institutions in original material on the history and development of Southern Africa. (See photo at top)

The library, Lindfield museum

“Lindfield” museum, a lived-in Victorian museum was also on the itinerary. “This is a turn-of-the-century Herbert Baker home in Auckland Park where for two generations the women of the Love family have amassed and cared for a vast collection of 19th and early 20th century furniture, art, decorative and utilitarian objects representative of the entire Victorian, Edwardian and Art Nouveau period”. After lunch we went to the William Cullen Library to view their rare and special books and get a glimpse of what they are doing. The dedication and enthusiasm of the staff showing us around were remarkable.

Katherine Love, the live-in curator

A delightful conference with the opportunities to network with colleagues who are working in the same field as we do.

Katrien Malan
University of Pretoria
August 2006

2 A PLEASANT SURPRISE

Indexing for Southern Africa: a manual compiled in celebration of ASAIB's first decade: 1994-2004 / edited by Jacqueline A Kalley, Elna Schoeman, Marlene Burger. Pretoria: Unisa Press, 2005. ISBN 1-86888-380-9. Price: R109.00 (postage included) R160.61 in AfricaAvailable from Unisa Press, item number 7526Contact e-mail: thearl@unisa.ac.za (Laetitia Theart)

Our very first review by Johan van Wyk (Mindex)

Dear ASAIB Committee,
I want to congratulate the committee and specially the contributors to “THE BOOK” on a marvellous work! I bought mine at Unisa yesterday, and a glance through it gave me such pleasure. It was high time that such a comprehensive work on this subject is done from South African pens. I will be working through it with great enjoyment. Wow – look, it actually has an index …………..!

Keep up the good work!

REVIEW by Dr LM Cloete (Unisa)

The Association of Southern African Indexers and Bibliographers (ASAIB) published this book in the form of a manual to highlight ten years of the organisation’s history and involvement in the Southern African indexing community.

Apart from the introduction, in which some background is provided to ASAIB’s work as well as the purpose and content of the manual is explained, the manual is divided into four parts.

Part one is devoted mainly to theoretical issues, including a brief overview of the history of indexing in South Africa, contextualisation indexing as an information retrieval tool, the complexities of conceptualisation, characteristics and evaluation of a good index and formulating an organisation policy.

Part two covers general applications of indexing, such as verbal subject description, book indexing, periodicals indexing, automatic indexing, web indexing, metadata and indexing, thesaurus construction and international standards, especially ISO 999 1900.

In part three, attention is paid to special fields and subjects of indexing, including Africana, antique maps, archives, education, environmental issues, health sciences, labour, languages, law, literature for children, museum objects, newspapers, politics and international relations.

Part four consists of one chapter in which the education and training opportunities are assessed for indexers and abstractors in Southern Africa, at university, technikon and indexing organisations.

The book is a source of reference on a variety of topics and aspects related to indexing for a wide-ranging audience: from information science students to practising indexers, occasional indexers, newcomers and anyone with an interest in indexing. Students of indexing will be able to use the book as a practical manual in their studies, especially the parts on theoretical issues and practical applications. The chapters on web indexing and metadata and indexing fill a gap in training material on these important and continually developing aspects. For experienced indexers and those already versed in specialised fields of indexing, the book provides useful insights into the latest issues and developments.

The last part on education and training highlights the importance of this aspect for all formal institutions such as universities and technikons, library and information science departments, as well as other organisations and individual lecturers, trainers and facilitators involved in teaching and training indexing and abstracting in Southern Africa. The competencies that indexers should possess are listed. This is followed by discussions and proposals of how the competencies could be taught through formal and informal education and training via distance education as well as short courses and workshops, i.e. to meet the varying training needs of Southern African students and indexers.

The book is a welcome contribution to Southern African literature on indexing. The contributors are all Southern African experts (from South Africa, Lesotho and Botswana) in the different aspects of indexing. The fact that the book is written by Southern Africans for the Southern African context makes it a unique publication. With new developments constantly taking place, especially within the electronic and digital context, the indexing community anticipates regular, revised editions of this manual.

3 NEWS FROM OUR SECRETARY, Madely du Preez:

q The Directory for Freelance Indexers has been updated and the newversion has been uploaded on the Websitehttp://www.asaib.org.za/directory.html Please check your details to see if it still is correct.
q I have updated the ASAIB Blog with some of the photos taken at the conference by member Hannalie Knoetze. I can unfortunately only upload four photos at a time, but I think this is a fair representation of some of the social part and visits of the event. The link to the Blog is:http://saindexers.blogspot.comEnjoy.
"The term 'free lance' comes from medieval times.
It describes a knight who was free to carry his lance (in other words to fight) for anyone who paid him."

[The kids' book of chess, by Harvey Kidder. New York, Workman Publishing, 1990.]


4 NEWS FROM PETER UNDERWOOD

q The National Forum on Information Literacy, in collaboration with the University of the Virgin Islands, is hosting the first international coalition conference on information literacy at the Frenchman’ Reef Marriott Resort Hotel, December, 10-13, 2006 in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. Please visit the conference websitehttp://library.uvi.edu/InfoLitConf.htm for more details on how you can participate and contribute to a very worthwhile international effort.
q Virtually There: Managing the challenges of digital collections11-13 December 2006, Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town. Full details of this workshop and registration are now available at http://www.ched.uct.ac.za/cil/dils/Virtually%20there.html
The Centre for Information Literacy, University of Cape Town, isrunning a workshop of interest to senior management of academic,research and public libraries, using, or intending to use, electronicmedia. The contributors to the Workshop will include, from the United Kingdom, Chris Armstrong of Information Automation Limited and Ray Lonsdale of the Department of Information Studies, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, Associate Professor Karin de Jager and Professor Peter G. Underwood of the Centre for Information Literacy, University of Cape Town.With the advent of collections of electronic resources and the concept of the 'virtual library', those concerned with managing collections are faced with new and difficult challenges. This workshop is designed to address some of the central challenges and to explore ways of accommodating them. In particular, delegates will have the opportunity to explore the issues of creating and administering a collection development policy and will explore the nature and use of Conspectus" and performance measurement methodology.
q For some years, two bookselling companies have supported the Centre for Information Literacy / Department of Information and Library Studies of the University of Cape Town through the award of prizes, in the form of book tokens, to its best students. This recognition is greatly esteemed by students and by the profession as evidence of career potential.The Exclusive Books Prize in recognition of the best academicperformance in the Postgraduate Diploma in Library and Information Science Programme in 2005 is awarded to Amina Adam.The Exclusive Books Award for leadership potential shown by a student of any of the Programmes in 2005 is made to Patricia Lumba.Wordsworth Books offers its prize to students undertaking the Honours Programme in Library and Information Science of the University of Cape Town. The Wordsworth Books Prize for best academic performance and leadership potential is rated highly by students and the profession as indicative of an excellent achievement. For the year 2005, the Prize is to Stephen Visagie. Please join me in offering congratulations to all prizewinners and the hope that the prizes will assist them with their studies.Mailing List Sponsored by Sabinet Online Limited.

5 CALL FOR PAPERS 2007

5.1 ASAIB Conference 2007

Conference theme: “Biography, The Beautiful…’. Suggested date: 10 and 11 May 2007. The venue and final programme will be communicated as soon as possible. Related topics to explore for the Conference include:
Autobiographies, Diaries, Memoirs, Historiography, Indexing a biography, SABC Documentaries (the research into the production of these documentaries) Obituaries, Genealogy; How does genealogical software work?; Genealogy Society’s Cemetery Project - Epitaphs; Heraldry – Coats of arms; Biographical dictionaries.
Please send your ideas/suggestions or proposals to Marlene Burger at burgem@unisa.ac.za

5.2 ASAIB Award

The ASAIB Award for best index and/or bibliography compiled during 2006 will be presented at the 2007 conference. Please mail your index or bibliography to Marlene Burger, Dept of Information Science, PO Box 392, Unisa 0003. Entries will be evaluated by an unbiased “outside” committee.

5.3 Australian and New Zealand Society of Indexers Conference

Call for papers for the Australian and New Zealand Society of IndexersConference, Melbourne (Victoria), March 15-17, 2007Theme: The Indexing Life: The conference is being held at RydgesRiverwalk, Richmond and will celebrate ANZSI's 30 years.SCOPE THEMES:Book publishing/productionHistorical and retrospective materialsIndexing and abstracting for databasesIndexing electronic documentsLanguage in indexingProfessional issues for indexersTechnical issues for book indexingWeb indexing / Information architectureBibliographyPapers may be presented as full conference papers, or in forum (panel)sessions.We are honoured to have secured two prominent keynote speakers for theconference: Geraldine Beare, an eminent Freelance Indexer from the UK, and, Professor Pam Peters, Director of the Dictionary Research Centre atMacquarie University, and Editor of Australian Style.Thursday 15 March will be devoted solely to professional developmentworkshops. As further details about the conference program, registration and accommodation become available they will be posted on the ANZSI website: www.aussi.orgTo express an interest in presenting a paper or being a member of apanel please go to the conference section on the ANZSI website:www.aussi.org Abstracts (maximum 200 words) ideally should be submitted at the same time as your application, but no later than October 31, 2006.Max McMasterANZSI Conference Committeep/f: +61 3 9500 8715e: max.mcmaster@masterindexing.com


NEWSFLASHNEWSFLASHNEWSFLASHNEWSFLASHNEWSFLASHNEWS
The cumulative index to The Indexer, vols 20-25 (1996-2006) is now on The Indexer Website(www.theindexer.org). Work on this will continue as time permits.From: Maureen MacGlashaneditor@theindexer.orgtd64@dial.pipex.com


6 Six by Six. Views from Beyond Forty…: Maryna Fraser

11 of my poems appear in a recently published anthology entitled:
Six by Six. Views from Beyond Forty. Six Poets Six Senses.

This is a collection of modern verse that combines the talent of six passionate poets who are not afraid to say that they are over forty.

I have been a contributor to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography since 1994. Seven of my articles appeared in the 60 volume work published in September 2004. My most recent contribution was a 'navigation' entry on the Randlords which appeared with the new releases on May 2006. Queen Elizabeth II visited the offices of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford, on the occasion.

The Association of Canadian Archivists are in the process of digitizing back numbers of their journal Archivaria. I have given permission for them to digitize my article ''Profile of a South African Company Archive''. Archivaria. 7:95-102 (Winter 1978-79)

I have also agreed to address Writers 2000 on the subject of "Good Research and Editing in Writing" in October.
Maryna Fraser

7 ITEM OF INTEREST: ANCIENT PRAYER BOOK


Ancient prayer book to be shown at V&ABy Duncan Gardham (Filed: 22/12/2005)
Illumination of the Nativity
For 300 years it has been a book without a beginning, middle or end. But thanks to scholarly detective work, a 15th century Book of Hours, written for King Louis XII of France, has been pieced back together and will go on display for the first time at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London in February.
The prayer book was known as a book of hours because it had different prayers for different hours of the day and different times of the year.
It was illustrated with full-page illuminations, measuring 24cm by 17cm (9.5in by 6.7in), by Jean Bourdichon in 1498 and 1499 for Louis XII and may have been brought to England on his death by Mary Tudor, his third wife.
By 1700 two individual pages turned up in a volume of calligraphy compiled by the diarist Samuel Pepys. After that the pages appeared in various collections. In 1973 Janet Backhouse, the curator of manuscripts at the British Library, worked out that all the illustrations had come from the same book.
Two years ago a number of them were sold by the estate of an antiquarian book dealer to the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the Louvre and the V&A in London, who paid £250,000.







© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2006. Terms & Conditions of reading.
8 Nigerian travels – Terry Barringer

Terry Barringer is editor of African Research and Documentation and compiler of the annual Africa Bibliography. She was previously custodian of the Royal Commonwealth Society Library Collections. In April she made her first trip to Africa.
This is her account.

Until this year, I always felt uneasily fraudulent. Despite an increasing number of publications on Africa, I had never set foot on the continent. I was consoled by one friendly scholar who always said, “Never mind that you haven’t done fieldwork, you know a lot about [bibliographical] spades” but the invitation finally and unexpectedly came as I was drinking tea with Barbara Spina (formerly Turfan) and Tony Olden at the School of Oriental and African Studies. Barbara was largely responsible for setting up a Link Scheme between SOAS Library and three Nigerian partners: the Department of Library Archival and Information Studies (LARIS), Ibadan University, the Department of Library and Information Science (DLIS) at Ahmadu Bello University and the Kashim Ibrahim Library also at ABU.[i] “We could send you this year”, they said. I gulped but it would have been wimpish to turn down such an offer!

The Link is funded by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) Higher Education Links Programme, managed by the British Council. 2006 was the third and final year of a scheme which brought Nigerian librarians to the UK and British librarians to Nigeria. On April 1st, I flew from Heathrow to Lagos with Dr Mandy Bentham, head of Teaching and Learning Strategy at SOAS and an expert on e-learning. Mandy had previously lived and worked in Mali so I was looking to her for West African street-cred.

Our mission (officially) was “To develop professional management skills, including staff training and development, in the overseas university library & information science departments… to enhance significantly information awareness among information professionals… [and] promote the DFID objective of investing in people, sharing, skills and knowledge”.

After a trouble-free flight, we were met by a British Council official to meet us who guided us through Lagos Airport (not nearly as scary as I had been led to believe). The following morning we were collected from our comfortable little hotel by the LARIS car and driven to Ibadan.

We spent the next week on the Ibadan campus, staying in a university guest house. A kaleidoscope of impressions, meetings, waiting for meetings to get organised, palavers and speechifying. We discovered that Nigerians talk about the power supply the way we Brits talk about the weather – and with good reason. The power supply failed several times a day, for several hours at a time. Most of the campus, including the libraries, was not provided with its own generators. Needless to say, this was not good for computers. Internet connectivity was also fraught with problems. In the whole week we managed to get online for a total of less than ten minutes. Senior librarians and academics told us of their frustration. Often they could access the internet and check their email only by leaving the campus and seeking out an internet café in town. (Many of these have their own generators).

We attended a large Ibadan University Distance Learning Stakeholders conference. I gave two linked presentations on Making African Scholarship Visible through bibliographies and book reviews. I explored the National Archives (very poorly housed and maintained) and the National Museum (interesting and well-displayed exhibits but apparently little visited). It was not all work. We watched guests gathering for a resplendent Yoruba wedding, explored the markets and a friend with influence got up into what might be the best swimming pool in Nigeria!

On Sunday 9th April we returned to Lagos for internal flight to Abuja then three hour drive to Zaria. Here we stayed in hotel (with generators!) which I was fascinated to discover was the old Institute of Public Administration building (established by some of my old Colonial Service friends to train the first generation of Nigerian civil servants). Monday was a public holiday for the Prophet’s Birthday so we could do no “real” work. This public holiday was only announced on the Friday before. The Head of the Library School gave us a tour of the Ahmadu Bello University Campus and especially its animal husbandry (ABU is strong on agriculture and veterinary science) and Zaria old city (ancient mud walls, colourful populace celebrating the Prophet’s birthday with processions and horse riding). Tuesday – met the Vice-Chancellor, gave our presentations to students and staff of the Library School, Wednesday – gave our presentations to the staff of the University Library. Thursday – Back to Abuja for debriefing meeting with the British Council. Rockview Hotel (nice – with pool and varied menu i.e. a few things other than chicken and rice). (Good) Friday – Saw dawn rise over Abuja before 8 a.m. flight to Heathrow. (6 ½ hours).

I’m still digesting the experience but here are a few impressions and questions.

All I’ve heard about book famine and the rundown state of African universities was confirmed by observation. There are universals in university politics (individual and departmental empire-building, competition for prestige and resources) but when complicated by the “Nigerian factor” things can only get worse. I’m tempted to say that “university administration” is an oxymoron and we saw little evidence of co-operation even between departments of the same university, let alone with universities elsewhere in Nigeria and Africa. Both Ibadan and ABU were without a reliable power supply and although there were computer and IT facilities and plenty of people able and eager to use them connectivity was fraught with difficulties. However I have abiding memories of some very impressive young scholars and professionals (mostly female) and am full of admiration for those who choose to stay and work in the situation rather than seeking comfortable and remunerative posts in the US.

Library and information skills are obviously valued. Both Library Schools were oversubscribed, their courses very popular. I asked where all these graduates found jobs and the answer was that many were recruited by the finance and banking sectors.

I returned, even more interested in political, social and religious developments in Nigeria and Africa generally. Fortunately, I can indulge this interest, wearing another of my many hats, as a member of the editorial team of The Round Table: the Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs. Look out for our special issue on Nigeria next year! I was fascinated by the posters, camps and complexes of the new Christian churches (the Catholics and Anglicans were less blatant) along the Lagos/Ibadan road, proximity of chapel and big new mosque (Saudi money?) on the campus as Ibadan (screen erected so that Moslem worshippers were not confronted with large outdoor cross), the prevalence and popularity of religious tracts, political posters and agitated and partisan discussions in the local press. I don’t “do sport” so was disconcerted by the amazing popularity of football. Wherever a group was gathered around a television screen, they were sure to be watching an English or European feature. And LARIS, Ibadan was the extremely proud possessor of the university’s football trophy. Another, to my mind, undesirable import from the UK was “Big Brother”, very popular in its Nigerian version.

But perhaps the greatest symbol of Nigeria is the mobile phone. In a country where no other equipment can be relied upon, it is (relatively) cheap and effective. Everyone has at least one. Self-respecting professional carry at least two. Nigeria, for me, was encapsulated by the sight of a market woman, conducting business, with a basket on her head, a child on her hip and a phone in her hand.

Questions that remain:
What is generically African and what is exceptional about Nigeria?

How as bibliographers, editors and information professionals can we facilitate African scholarship and make it visible and available? What are the appropriate models and media? How do we avoid “cultural imperialism”? (And here I must warn my South African readers that in Nigeria, and no doubt other parts of Africa, it is they who are seen as the new cultural imperialists.)

Less seriously, I did not see one Nigerian female who was not the epitome of elegance. How do they do it?
[i] See Barbara Turfan, Practical applications in library and information management: the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS)-Nigeria Link, 2003/2006. African Research and Documentation 94 2004 pp. 3-4

THE INDEXER

Published since April 1958 ISSN 0019-4131

The International Journal of Indexing


The only periodical in the Western world devoted specifically to all
aspects of indexing.
Dr Hans H. Wellisch, author of Indexing from A to Z

I am impressed by the breadth of the coverage in such a highly targeted
journal.
Dr Gordon Graham, Editor of LOGOS: The Professional Journal for the
Book World


The information- and fun-packed publication for professional indexers everywhere
Marc Abrahams: Editor of Annals of Improbable Research


It should find a place in all library science collections and in the
personal collections of professional indexers and indexing researchers and
educators . . . a lively forum on highly specific questions representing a
concern for good indexing.
Professor Bella Hass Weinberg in Library and Information Science Annual


Anyone doing professional/academic writing in the field of indexing knows that The Indexer is the publication of reference for the profession.
Nancy Mulvany, author of Indexing Books

www.theindexer.org


THE INDEXER
The International Journal of Indexing ISSN 0019-4131

The Indexer is published twice a year (April and October).
Editor and Reviews Editor: Maureen MacGlashan (editor@theindexer.org)
Production Editor: Susan Curran (production@theindexer.org)
Assistant Editor: Sue Lambert (asset@theindexer.org)
Advertising Sales Manager: Jonathan Gordon-Till (advertising@theindexer.org)
Around the World: Glenda Browne (world@theindexer.org)
North American Reviews: Frances Lennie (reviews-america@theindexer.org)
Indexes Reviewed: Christine Shuttleworth (indexes-reviewed@theindexer.org)
Browser Bar Editor: Pierke Bosschieter (browser@theindexer.org)
Corresponding Members:
Australia and New Zealand: anzsi@theindexer.org
Canada: iasc-scad@theindexer.org
China: csi@theindexer.org
Germany: dni@theindexer.org
Netherlands: nin@theindexer.org
Southern Africa: asaib@theindexer.org
United States: asi@theindexer.org

Indexing is about helping those searching for information to find what they are looking for, whatever the medium – be it the printed page, still or moving images, artefacts in and out of museums, mathematical formulae and, of course, electronic data in all its vast variety.

The Indexer, a peer-reviewed journal, seeks to cover the full range of subjects, from articles at the cutting edge of new techniques to contributions discussing in a practical way the new tools available to indexers at all points in the technical spectrum, exploring how our predecessors did it back to the earliest of times, and considering the all-important human element. Its extensive reviews section covers both printed and electronic material, including websites and hardware and software of interest to the indexer, while ‘Indexes Reviewed’ highlights some of the best (and worst) examples of indexing in action. And, in ‘Around the World’, it keeps readers up to date with what is going on across the international indexing community. Stimulating and sometimes provocative, The Indexer is essential reading for everyone concerned with information accessibility and knowledge management.

A selection of articles is shown opposite. For a classified contents list and index to recent issues, visit

www.theindexer.org


THE INDEXER
The International Journal of Indexing ISSN 0019-4131

Some recent articles from The Indexer:

Chinese index science: stepping forward to the new century
Ge Yong-Qing (China)
Colloque International: Indici, Index, Indexation Lille, 3–4.XI.2005
Maureen MacGlashan (UK)
Continental European indexing: then and now
Caroline Diepeveen (Netherlands)
Embedded indexing
James Lamb (UK)
German indexing: some observations on typographical practice
Jochen Fassbender (Germany)
Indexation, memory, power and representations in 12th-century France
Jean Berger (France)
Indexing, a work of art or a sickness beyond cure?
John Sutherland (UK)
Indexing African musical instruments
Marlene Burger (South Africa)
Indexing cartoons
Nicholas Hiley (UK)
Indexing children’s information books
Paula L. Williams and K. G. B. Bakewell (UK)
Software for HTML indexing: a comparative review
Heather Hedden (USA)
The definite article: acknowledging ‘The’ in index entries
Glenda Browne (Australia)
UC Berkeley Extension Course: learning to index at a distance
Sylvia Coates et al. (USA)
Verifying personal names on the Web
Noeline Bridge (Canada)

To write for The Indexer contact the Editor (editor@theindexer.org)

To subscribe to The Indexer turn to next page or visit www.theindexer.org


THE INDEXER
The International Journal of Indexing ISSN 0019-4131

The Indexer is published twice a year (April and October) by the Society of Indexers.

Annual subscription (2007): £60 (postage paid). Members of the American Society of Indexers, the Australian and New Zealand Society of Indexers, Deutsches Netzwerk der Indexer and the Nederlands Indexers Netwerk may subscribe to The Indexer at a reduced rate through their national societies.
To subscribe to The Indexer, complete the form below and send it to:
Sales Administrator, Society of Indexers, Woodbourn Business Centre, 10 Jessell Street, Sheffield S9 3HY, UK. Fax: +44 (0)114 244 9563;
email:mailto:%20admin@indexers.org.uk. An electronic version of the form is available at http://www.indexers.org.uk/

I should like to subscribe to The Indexer starting with the
April/October* issue ................................................................(please insert year)
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ASAIB Executive Committee

ASAIB Conference 2006 Visits - Lindfield House

ASAIB Conference 2006 Visits - Brenthurst Library

ASAIB CONFERENCE PHOTOS

ASAIB Indexing Manual

ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHERN AFRICAN INDEXERS AND BIBLIOGRAPHERS CONFERENCE

Africana - From Papyrus to Metadata: “A Bibliographer’s Delight”

Conference Presented at the Military Museum, 20 Erlswold Way, Saxonwold, Johannesburg on 11 & 12 May 2006

PROGRAMME: 11 May 2006

08:30-09:00 Registration
09:00-09:05 Welcome (Dr J Kalley, EISA)


The Passage ...


09:05-09:35 Africana in context (Ms A le Roux, Archives & Special Collections, Unisa)
09:35-10:05 Africana creative writing manuscripts (Mr RJ Pearce, Unisa
Library)
10:05-10:35 Passages through nineteenth-century Southern Africa and beyond: re-evaluating Africana - Thomas Baines 1825-1875 (Prof EJ Carruthers, Dept of History, Unisa)

10:35-11:00 TEA


The Journey …..


11:00-11:30 The Missak Collection (Ms HW Latsky, Rare Book Collection & Univ Archives, Univ of Johannesburg)
11:30-12:00 Going, going, gone … an auctioneers’ viewpoint (Mr Anthony Wiley, Wiley & Tenquist Antique Valuers, Johannesburg)
12:00-12:30 Conservation and restoration (Mr P Duncan, William Cullen Library, Univ of the Witswatersrand)

12:30-13:10 LUNCH


The Arrival …..


13:10-13:40 Finding aids (1910-2006) to access Africana collections (Ms MA Coetzee, Archives & Special Collections, Unisa)
13:40-14:10 Google’s Digitisation of 19th Century Books (Ms M Graham, Brenthust Library, Johannesburg)
14:10-14:40 Metadata: A Tool for Adding Value to Rare Books (Ms APJ Watkins, Unisa Library)
14:40-15:00 Discussion & Closure (Ms M Burger, ASAIB Chairperson)

Registration form and fees: http://www.asaib.org.za/
Enquiries: Madely preezm@unisa.ac.za 012-4296792
Marlene burgem@unisa.ac.za 012-4296585

VISITS: 12 May 2006

09:00 for 09:15 Brenthurst Library, Federation Rd, Parktown (off Oxford Rd), Johannesburg. Gems of the Brenthurst Library and Publishing in Progress
10:00-10:30 TEA
10:30 Leave for Lindfield, a Victorian/Edwardian House, 72
Richmond Ave, Auckland Park, Johannesburg
11:00-13:00 Lindfield tour
13:00-14:00 SANDWICH LUNCH
14:00 Leave for Wits
14:30-15:30 William Cullen Library, University of the Witwatersrand, 1 Jan Smuts Ave, Milner Park (West of Braamfontein), Johannesburg. Tour to view Africana Treasures, visit Historical Papers, SAHA and Rare Books
15:30 TEA
Enquiries: Peter peterd@library.wits.ac.za 011-7171947/55

ASAIB Award for best Bibliography 2004-2005

Mr Abdul Samed Bemath, winner of the the ASAIB Award for Best Bibliography 2004-2005 for his book The Mazruiana collection revisited: Ali A Mazrui debating the African condition: an annotated and select thematic bibliography 1962-2003. See the book review on this work in the ASAIB Newsletter of October 2005. The photographer was Mr Fakir Hassen