Valeria Padalino, Ba (Hons), MSc

Location: London

Membership Grade: Professional Member

Contact Info

General Experience

I create embedded and traditional stand-alone indexes in arts and humanities subjects, in particular literature, languages, history, art history, and crafts.

I won the The Moys-Crane Prize for best newly qualified indexer in 2021.

A graduate in Modern Languages and Literatures (BA), and Information Science (MSc), I have worked as a professional librarian in public libraries for the past twenty years in various roles, more recently as stock acquisition and commissioning manager. During my career as librarian I have also organised many book events and successfully worked with authors and publishers.

I am an approachable and trustworthy professional who enjoys the challenges of a demanding project, and is available all year.

 

Feedback from a recent client:

We commissioned Valeria to index Balkan Fabrications: From Fra and Jessie Newbery’s ‘Serbian’ Turn, an academic art book, which focussed on the potent relationship between British art and Balkan culture. With over 70,000 words of text and 16,000 words of endnotes, it was a complicated and time-consuming project. Valeria did an excellent job which we, and the author, were delighted with.  Furthermore, her communication was second-to-none, regularly kept me updated on the index’s progress, kept to the schedules, and went beyond the role of an indexer by raising queries when she spotted errors in the text. I would not hesitate to recommend her and will be using her services again. 

Clara Hudson, Director, Sansom & Co

 

Recent titles indexed:

K. P. Clarke, Dante’s Divine Comedy: A Reading Guide, Cambridge University Press, 2024

Jeremy Howard, Balkan Fabrications: From Fra and Jessie Newbery’s ‘Serbian’ Turn, Sansom & Company, 2022

Matteo Augello, Curating Italian Fashion: Heritage, Industry, Institutions, Bloomsbury 2022

Subjects

Literature and Poetry In English

I majored in English literature for my Bachelor degree and I welcome commissions in this area.

Literature and Poetry In Foreign Languages

I am an Italian native speaker and extensively studied Italian literature and culture.

I have high reading standard of French and a special interest in writers and writing in Paris during the interwar period, both French and English expatriate.

Art History

I studied art history at academic level and one of my favourite subjects to index. I am comfortable with all periods, in particular European art in the early Twentieth Century.

Handicrafts

I have vast practical experience, in particular with surface embroidery, but I also enjoy crocheting and tatting.
As well as practical texts, I also welcome books about craft and textile theory.

Textiles

Information Management

I have a post-graduate degree in Information Studies and I have been involved with all aspects of information management during my twenty years career in libraries.

Local History

Modern History

Cultural Studies

Adult Education/Lifelong Learning

I have a qualification in Teaching in the Lifelong Learning Sector and welcome text in this area. In the past I taught basic computer skills to adults in public libraries.

Italian (Works About)

I have excellent knowledge of Italian culture and politics and welcome projects in this subject area. I am Italian native speaker and often visit family and friends in Italy.

Child Development

Parenting

Cookery Books

Related qualifications

BA (Hons) Modern Languages and Literatures (IULM, Milan, Italy)
MSc Library and Information Studies, (City University, London)


Special Publication Type

Biographies/ Autobiographies

I enjoy indexing biographies especially of literary and artistic figures.
For my Pre-qualification Indexing Assignment I have indexed the biography of a well-known Swiss avant-garde artist, and received positive feedback from SI training course assessor:

“The Candidate has compiled a commendably detailed index, and taken particular care in the construction of headings and entries for the subject of the biography”

Tools

Mac and PC
CINDEX
INDEX MANAGER
MS Word