About me

I’m an experienced indexer for trade and scholarly books in a broad range of subject areas, from humanities to social sciences to biomedical sciences. I also index French-language materials. I have a BA from McGill University and an MLIS from Dalhousie University.

When I wrote my first index in 2005, for an accounting textbook from Queen's University Press, it was love at first index. I immediately signed up for professional training from the USDA Graduate School, and indexing became my portal into the broader worlds of editing and librarianship. 

In 2025, after 20 years on a winding path through academic libraries; digital archives; and several editing specialities, from proofreading to copyediting to developmental editing, I'm thrilled to have returned to indexing full time.

I'm the interviews columnist for the Indexing Society of Canada/Société canadienne d'indexation (ISC/SCI)’s quarterly Bulletin. I’ve also completed the training course from the American Society for Indexing (ASI), and I’m a dedicated volunteer for ASI’s PNW chapter.

When I'm not indexing, I'm probably writing, drawing comics, or trying to identify lichen in the forest near my home in Astoria, Oregon. I'm also an award-winning memoirist. You can find out about that on my author webpage here.

Alyssa Graybeal, MLIS