Theodore C. Hines Award speech
My great pleasure to receive the Hines award from Janet Perlman, introduced by a choked-up Pilar Wyman. Touched me to my very soul.
I can’t tell you how much it means to me to have Janet Perlman be the person up here with me. Janet was one of the first people I met at my very first ASI conference, and I can still remember her coming up to me and saying ‘Tell me about embedded indexing.” That’s Janet – she made me welcome and she wanted to know about exciting things. And she still does. I value our twenty-year friendship so much, as I value those same two decades plus some in ASI.
ASI has been one of the reasons I could be an indexer, professionally, full time. That’s a simple statement, but the friends, the information exchange, the standards, the education, the mutual support, and the help we all give each other is invaluable. If you think about it, we are all competing for work with each other. And yet we get together, regionally and nationally, and share our techniques, our business skills, and our time with each other. That’s amazing, isn’t it?
Regardless of all the wonderful things Janet just listed, I truly feel that I wouldn’t be here without many other people. I feel they should be up here with me, right now, as I could not have done the things I have without them. If I could divide this award up, I would be giving pieces to:
- The DTTF team:
- David Ream, who has been working so hard on the IPDF spec, giving presentations everywhere he can to help push indexing and ebooks further, and writing tools to help ASI’s books wind up as ebooks, and being my mind-meld partner. He also forgives me when I misspell his name, which I appreciate.
- Michele Combs, right by Dave’s side making sure that the spec was good, and the most cheerful committee person ever. She is a true diplomat.
- Glenda Browne, who navigated the depths of the spec with our American team and made sure it was internationally great as well.
- Steve Ingle and his team who gave hours and hours to work with Dave to bring ASI’s ebooks to market-ready stage, test tools, and has been working on the web site updates.
- Mary Harper, who has kept the DTTF team sane, kept me sane in particular, kept our reports in order, can find any document we need, and always thinks about the diplomatic solutions or implications of the team’s actions. She is our heart.
- Ina Gravitz, who happily said about ebook testing: “I have no idea, but I am willing to learn” and has been managing the quality assurance program for ASI’s ebooks effort. There was a recent article that said ebook QA was essential but too few publishers do it. Ina put us ahead of the curve!
- Paul Sweum, who will forever be known as the man who knocked on Amazon’s doors.
- Charlee Trantino, who has been the greatest board liaison we could have had.
- Sheila Ryan, who has been mastering the art of the tweet, and has been documenting how to get through an Indesign linked index with Gale Rhoades.
- And Pilar Wyman… You all know she has been President this year, but over the last two years Pilar has gone way way above and beyond her official offices to be a force of nature, doing webinars, international presentations to publishers, and setting a course for where we need to go. We are a buzzword now due to her dynamite onstage presence and networking. Believe me, Pilar has been up late working on both her presidential duties, Skype conferences, resolving issues, and trying to get DTTF demos done, speeches ready, and materials prepared. She is amazing, and she has kept us going when personal troubles hit every member of the team over the last two years.
- The ASI board members, who were visionaries and decided we needed to do something, to act now, about indexing in the ebook age. Frances Lennie, Richard Shrout, Pilar and now Ina have been the presidents who kept this ball rolling, and the board has been so supportive. We hope we have fulfilled your wishes, and I thank you all.
- Everyone who posts on LinkedIn or calls the team’s attention to important technologies and news. Yes, everyone of you! You have been our eyes and ears, since none of us can be everywhere at once or read everything there is. Thank you! You are too many to list, but I want you to know you are invaluable. Rebecca McCorkle has been gathering your news up every week, and letting everyone know.
- I want to also mention the importance of teaching, in which Janet, Nancy Mulvany and Sylvia Coates have all been my mentors. It’s been a joy to see students go on to become great indexers: Lucie Haskins, Teri Lefever, Kay Schlembach. I have been privileged to teach them. Every student has taught me something about our craft. It’s a two way learning experience. Let’s also remember Vicky Agee, who not only taught for decades, but was a major factor in making sure that anywhere she lived, there was an ASI chapter going strong. We all wish her health and strength.
- And lastly, since this is going to sound like the Oscars if I go on any longer, I want you to know that my Mom and my husband Chris should be up here by my side. When I found out that I had won the Wilson award, I was at my Mom and Dad’s house. When I heard that I was being put forward for the Hines, I was again at Mom and Dad’s. Something about that house makes you win awards, I think. It’s too bad we are selling it now, but hey, if anyone here would like to put down an offer, it is an award-winning location! And as for Chris, those of you who know him, you know why he should be here too.
Thank you, again, to the Hines committee, and I am truly honored to receive this award.