I have been an accredited indexer since 2007 when I completed the Society of Indexers' training course in indexing. As a firm believer in Continuing Professional Development, I attend workshops and read specialist journals to keep both my indexing skills and subject knowledge up to date.

 

I had the great good fortune to be born and raised on Cape Cod in Massachusetts.  I grew up exploring the salt marshes, ponds, ocean, scrub woodlands and dunes of my home environment.  From an early age, I was interested in the plant and animal life around me, and I was lucky enough to live in a place full of opportunities to nurture that interest.

 

Since moving to the United Kingdom in 2000, I have continued to learn about the world around me.  I am a member of several organizations which are devoted to learning about and protecting our natural heritage.  My great interests are natural history and ecology, and I am, once again, fortunate enough to live in an area that abounds in wild flora and fauna.

 

Much of my working life has been in libraries, both in the United States and in the United Kingdom.  This has given me many opportunities to learn how different people go about seeking information.  One library I worked at was a public one, and I spent much time there working with children and seeing how they search for information when doing projects and essays for school.  The other two libraries I've worked at were academic ones, so I had the chance to see how university students and researchers look for information.  I believe this knowledge of how people of different ages, different interests, different goals and different capabilities seek information has helped me be a better indexer.  If I know who the author's target audience is, I can create the index with that audience in mind.

 

In between library posts, I completed a Bachelor of Science degree at Colorado State University.  My subject there was Animal Sciences.  My degree work in Colorado gave me a firm footing in biology and animal husbandry.  I went on to become supervisory biological research technician in an entomological laboratory with the United States Department of Agriculture.  The post enabled me to increase my knowledge of biology and natural history, both in the laboratory and in the field.  In reading reports on the work we did, I was also able to see how and where the information we provided was included in a text.  From an indexing point of view, this gives me an edge on knowing what information a researcher might want to retrieve from a scholarly text and how to make that job easier for him or her.

 

Because of my background and experience, I specialize in indexes for books and periodicals concerned with natural history, ecology and biology.  I do have a great many other interests though, and am happy to consider texts in many other fields.  Please visit the Subjects Indexed page for more information.