Stephen Westman

I have devoted my life to library information technology as a profession because I deeply enjoy the process of doing research and the excitement of discovering new information resources. Having done work at the doctoral level, I am familiar with traditional research methods. This background gives me the tools to design and implement applications that can benefit other researchers. This has led me to focus on information retrieval from within bibliographic catalogs, digital library applications, and institutional repository implementations. I am particularly interested in developing discovery systems that can break through traditional "stove pipe" applications and that allow users to find information in new and innovative ways.

In the process, I have realized that, in order to create such applications, one must have a thorough grounding in bibliographic and information retrieval theories and principles. Just as musical works must have structure to be coherent, so information retrieval systems must have a clear and coherent underlying structure if they are to be at all useful.

In addition to my professional activities, I am a hiker and lover of the "outdoors", an avid reader of "dead-tree books", an author, oboist, opera singer, a lover of the visual arts, an amateur ethnomusicologist, and a would-be gourmet chef. I have found that all of my activities - both professional and personal - work together in a symbiotic way to enhance each other. In particular, I find that my involvement with the arts helps me to create information applications in intuitive in ways that let me explore innovative ideas within a structured context, thereby bringing a spirit of inventiveness to my development work.