Members of the Society of Indexers gathered in Birmingham in September for a weekend conference held at the Edgbaston Park Hotel, University of Birmingham. This blog post gives an overview of the conference, with a particular focus on the breakout session I facilitated on health and wellbeing for indexers.
This was my first visit to Birmingham, so I allowed time during my visit to explore the city. I was keen to visit the public library in the city centre and the historical canal junctions nearby.
The conference got underway on Friday 19th September with a session about the indexing work that takes place in the House of Commons library, followed by breakout sessions aimed at new and experienced indexers focusing on issues particular to each group.
On Saturday, a full day of sessions began with a review of the latest developments in artificial intelligence and indexing. Next there was a panel discussion between three indexers who had all indexed a book about the X-Men. It was interesting to see how they had chosen different ways to handle the issues particular to the source text (e.g. characters with multiple names, or superhero identities held by multiple characters). Each indexer had found slightly different ways to organise access points to the material. None of their approaches could be considered ‘wrong’ and all would be useful to the reader. After that we broke into sessions on each of the three software programs used by indexers; I learnt some useful new keyboard shortcuts in the Sky session.
I ran one of three breakout session options available after lunch, with my group looking at health and wellbeing for indexers. I titled the session ‘Mindful Collage: Creating Journaling for Wellbeing’ to fit the conferences theme (the Heart and Mind of Indexing) and based it on evidence supporting the link between art activities and positive health outcomes. For example, the World Health Organization has reviewed 3000 articles covering the arts from drama and dance to visual arts and music. They found numerous ways that the arts can improve health and wellbeing, having a role in health promotion, disease prevention or delay, supporting treatment and so on.[i]
I have always enjoyed creative hobbies, having dabbled in sewing, quilting, cross-stitch, felt-making, decoupage and ceramics. I decided we would focus on small collages, using index cards as our base surface. Small art works can fit into a wider practice of art journaling. Art journals can have a range of functions, from the expression of emotion to recording events or trying out techniques or media. They can take a variety of forms, for example, a bound book or loose leaf format such as the index card. When creating an art journal, the focus should be on the process rather than the end result. It is a way of finding a ‘free’ space to explore ideas playfully without worrying about an end-product.
I showed the session participants some doodling and pattern techniques and then it was time to get creative. I had brought along materials to be used in the session including blank cards, pens, scissors, pre-cut shapes, stencils, tapes and glue. Everyone was happy to share what they had created.
After a short break, a panel of authors shared their experiences of working with indexers. It was very helpful to hear about the process from their side. The business part of the day finished with a series of lightning talks and we all reconvened in the evening for a gala dinner.
The final day of the conference began with a session on humour and bias in indexing, followed by themed breakout sessions; I attended the sessions on literary criticism, then a session about whether and when it is appropriate to create index headings looking at emotions, and finally a session about the ‘rules’ of indexing. There were updates from the international delegates on their upcoming 2026 conferences and then the conference closed.
As always, the highlights of the conference was meeting up with indexing colleagues. I look forward to SI’s online conference in 2026 and in-person n 2027.
[i] WHO, ‘What is the evidence on the role of the arts in improving health and well-being? A scoping review.’ Health Evidence Network synthesis report 67 (5 November 2019) https://www.who.int/europe/publications/i/item/9789289054553 accessed 10 November 2025).