This link comes via John Cowan, who writes: “Considering how under threat dictionaries are, you might want to give these people some free publicity.” Good advice, and I am taking it. It’s a plea for support by David Jost:
The editors of the American Heritage Dictionary have asked me, as head of the membership committee of the Dictionary Society of North America and as a member of AHD’s editorial staff from 1984 to 2005, to write this guest essay about my membership in the DSNA. The DSNA has been the most important professional organization in my career. Throughout the time I worked on the editorial staffs of both the Middle English Dictionary and the American Heritage Dictionary, I have published in the Journal, given papers at conferences, and served in various offices including that of president and conference chair for Boston 2005. I am particularly pleased that the Society has made me a Fellow.
As my career, both scholarly and commercial, underlines, the DSNA is an unusual group made up of scholars, commercial practitioners, collectors, and those with a general interest in various fields of language study, particularly lexicography. The Society served me when I was working on the MED, when I worked on the AHD and other reference works published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and when as vice president I took over the development of my company’s electronic dictionary publishing program. The conferences throughout North America have been vital moments in my career, perhaps no more so than when I met my future supervisor at the American Heritage Dictionary before I knew that I might be hired there someday.
Of course, the DSNA isn’t just for people who practice or study lexicography. It’s also a social network where dictionary and language lovers in the general populace can pursue and share their interests. If you’re not currently a member, please check out the DSNA website and consider joining today!
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