Master Indexing is a partnership run by Max and Julie McMaster. We commenced trading in 1988.
Max concentrates on indexing, while Julie combines journal editing with her school laboratory management role.
Following the completion of an agricultural science degree and a librarianship diploma, Max spent 15 years working in several government special libraries, covering the fields of agriculture, environment, health and veterinary medicine.
During this time, he developed his database indexing skills. He then spent five years in a scientific database and information retrieval service developing databases and conducting database training.
Concurrently with his database work, Max gained his first experience of book indexing. He began freelance book indexing on a part-time basis in 1988, and then made the leap to full-time indexing in 1991. He has continued his indexing career ever since.
Awards and recognition
The quality of Max’s book indexing work has been recognised by the Australian and New Zealand Society of Indexers (ANZSI), which has awarded him three ANZSI Medals for excellence in indexing, as well as four Highly Commended certificates.
Max joined ANZSI in 1986 as a means of networking and boosting his professional development. He has been a member ever since.
Max has held several executive positions within the national body and the Victorian Branch of ANZSI. He has also been Chair of the Registration (now Accreditation) Panel and served on the ANZSI Medal Panel on several occasions.
Training courses
Max ran indexing training courses for ANZSI for more than 20 years. He has also led indexing training at overseas institutions and lectured on indexing to editing students at several academic institutions. He was a member of the International Committee of Representatives of Indexing Societies for many years.
From 2010 to mid-2022, Max was an instructor for the University of California Berkeley Extension’s Indexing: Theory and Application online indexing training course.
Max has written many professional papers and given several presentations at international and Australian conferences on various aspects of indexing.
Reference editing
Julie has worked as reference editor for the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health since 1998, a role she continues today.
Selected professional papers and books (from 2010)
Analysis of Australian Commonwealth annual report indexes (with Mary Russell). The Indexer 38(2): 186-206 (2020).
The enigmatic journal index: when a negative search is positive. The Indexer 39(3)293–295 (2021).
Finding content in The Indexer survey: background. The Indexer 40(2).129–132 (2022).
Globalization and the indexer: reflections from the UCB Extension course (with Sylvia Coates and Heather Ebbs). The Indexer 29(1): 31-33 (2011).
Illustrative material and how to handle it. The Indexer 29(3): 123-126 (2011).
Indexing in the editorial process. The Indexer 34(2): 65-67 (2016).
Indexing your annual report: A guide (with Mary Russell). Glenferrie South, Vic.: Australian and New Zealand Society of Indexers, 2010.
Melbourne indexers rate the indexes to CMoS (with Mary Russell). The Indexer 36(2): 70-73 (2018).
Numbers in indexing. The Indexer 31(4): C6-8 (2013).
Preparing the indexing quote. The Indexer 30(2): 100-102 (2012).
Quiet achievers in indexing (McMaster, ed). Lawson, NSW: Australian and New Zealand Society of Indexers, 2015.
Quoting on book indexing projects. The Indexer 40(1)49–63 (2022).
Same publication + many indexers = ??? The Indexer 30(2):98-100 (2012).
Stop words in the filing of subheadings. The Indexer 34(2): 68-70 (2016).
Zoological indexing. The Indexer 35(3): C3-C7 (2017).