Description: In this article, the author discusses the American Society for Indexing (ASI) conference presentations. The ASI holds annual conferences to keep members informed of new developments in indexing technology and the expanding role of indexing (ASI, 2012). Conferences also facilitate communication among members, provide educational opportunities, and raise awareness of quality indexing. The purpose of this article is to identify major topics discussed at ASI conferences from 1997 through 2012 and to explore how the topics have changed over time. ASI conference programs reflect topics of interest to indexers, and thus provide insight into concerns of the profession at large.

Description: This article discusses biography indexes. The author discusses index characteristics considered significant by book reviewers of biographies, drawing on reviews excerpted in the 'Reviewed elsewhere' column of Biography.

Description: This articles discusses why ones work as a librarian begins long before their graduate program. The field of librarianship has undergone dramatic changes in the past 5 years; perhaps most notably in the number and type of open positions, as well as the job application process itself. Numbers point to a bleak market, and countless blogs lament the situation while offering never ending "to do lists" for the aspiring librarian. The author offers her own suggestions from personal experience; tools that she not only developed to secure a promising position at a prestigious university library in her chosen area, but also continue to use in her present position in anticipation of advancement. This piece is directed to those aspiring librarians seeking advice on the perilous journey ahead, as well as to the author's peers; the colleagues, supervisors, and mentors of aspiring librarians who seek to offer the same assistance we have all benefited from in the past.

Description: This article discusses a periodical of the American Anti-Slavery Society, the 'Slave's Friend, which ran from 1836 to 1839. The author describes the abolitionist sentiment and the animal metaphor.

Description: This article discusses MARC. Abstract: The MARC data format was created early in the history of digital computers. In this article, the author entertains the notion that viewing MARC from a modern technological perspective leads to interpretive problems such as a confusion of "bibliographic data" with "catalog records." The author explores this idea through examining a specific MARC interpretation task that he undertook early in his career and then revisited nearly four years later. Revising the code that performed the task confronted him with his own misconceptions about MARC that were rooted in his worldview about what he thought "structured data" should be and helped him to place MARC in a more appropriate context.