Professional freelance indexing services
Pilar Wyman is a professional freelance indexer and indexing consultant. She has been involved in indexing since late 1983, and has been writing indexes since 1990. She teaches the Basic and Applied Indexing courses for the USDA Graduate School, and has mentored countless students of indexing. When her schedule permits, she gives training workshops and presentations on indexing and related topics.

Great Indexes for Great Books, and other media -- ¡ahora en español también!
Pilar is an accomplished indexer and has written over 900 indexes for books, journals, CD-ROMs, archives, Web sites and electronic media. She provides indexing for English, French, and Spanish-language materials. Her rates are reasonable and estimates can be provided. Her areas of expertise include:

Upcoming Events!

• Writing Medical Indexes, a core AMWA certificate workshop, at the fall 2008 American Medical Writers Association (AMWA) Annual Conference, in Louisville, Kentucky, this October 23-25. For details, see AMWA's 68th Annual Conference web page.

  "Excellent workshop!"

  "This workshop was fantastic! The instructor was experienced and knowledgeable and also made this topic extremely interesting! I enjoyed and learned a lot from the in-class exercises and discussion. Many classes of this type just provide a list of "dos and don'ts." With this class, I actually feel confident about evaluating quality of indexes (which was my main objective in taking this course)."

  "Fascinating, informative, really really useful! I learned a tremendous amount and I think it will be highly useful. Thanks so much!!"

  "I have a whole new respect for indexers! This class is a good start in learning to index well."

  "Wonderful!"

• Association of Southern African Indexers and Bibliographers (ASAIB) conference, including the international 2009 Triennial Meeting, Johannesburg, South Africa, 9-10 March 2009.

News!

• Join the grassroots fundraising effort to save scenic Heybrook Ridge, the hillside overlooking Index, Washington! Read the full article at http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/362013_index07.html. To donate, visit heybrookridge.org.
• Congratulations to Glenda Browne, Blaxland, New South Wales, Australia, winner of the 2007 Ig Nobel Prize for Literature for her article on the problems encountered when alphabetizing index entries that start with "the". As indexers and bibliographers know, the rules for alphabetizing articles differ depending on the type of entry, and they don't always reflect the way people think about the terms being indexed. Listen to (or read) a radio interview with Glenda and Marc Abrahams of the Annals of Improbable Research (Harvard, Massachusetts) at The Science Show on ABC Radio National.

Search in...An Index of Indexing

• Check out the latest Rollyo Searchroll, An Index of Indexing! Use my searchroll, "An Index of Indexing" to search just among indexing sites: Enter the topic you wish to search in the top box above (the one with the red ribbon around it); select my searchroll in the lower box; et voilà!
• An index to this site, finally!
• Editing Indexes for Ease of Use and Efficiency handout.
• Checklist for Editing Tech Indexes handout.
• Benchmarks of Quality Indexes handout.
  
• For students of the USDA Basic and Applied Indexing courses: Submitting Indexes As E-Mail Attachments details how you should send your index lessons. Please submit all lessons with a Student Response Sheet including your complete mailing address so I know where to send graded lessons: EDIT3360C Student Response Sheet. Also check out Indexing Info for Indexing Students and a FAQ file about my indexing instruction.
  
• Dispelling Myths About the USDA Indexing Courses
• Latest favorite entries and juxtapositions from an index:

  Flash Gordon, 381, 386
  Flight simulations, 342

  Lawrence, T.E., 216
  Leadbelly (Huddie Ledbetter), 404
  Lear Jet, 391

  Star Trek, 239, 381, 387
  Star Wars, 127
  Star Wars, 377, 381
  -- Aeronautical and Astronautical Resources of the Library of Congress: A Comprehensive Guide, in press

© Pilar Wyman Wyman Indexing Tel/Fax: +1-410-757-7119 Mobile: +1-443-336-5497 pilarw@wymanindexing.com