# /research/researchworks/contest/judges.htm

originally: http://www.oclc.org/research/researchworks/contest/judges.htm

# OCLC Research Software Contest Judges

## Kevin Clarke
Kevin S. Clarke is currently the Coordinator of Web Services at Belk Library and Information Commons, Appalachian State University. In this role, he manages the Library's digital initiatives and coordinates the activities of the Web Services team. Previously, he worked as the Digital Projects Programmer at Firestone Library, Princeton University, and as the Digital Information Systems Developer at Lane Medical Library, Stanford University. Kevin holds a Master of Science in Information Science (MSIS) from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and has over nine years of experience developing integrative digital information systems. He also has a background in library metadata, having started his career in cataloging. He thinks of himself as a library technologist, mixing the best of library world with the best of the IT world. He is the co-author of the book Putting XML to Work in the Library: Tools for Improving Access and Management and has presented and published on a variety of topics related to library metadata and digital information systems. For several semesters, he taught a course on XML at San Jose State University's School of Library and Information Science. He recently finished an article on XML for the Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science. |
## Karen Coombs
Karen A. Coombs serves as the Head of Web Services at the University of Houston Libraries. Her duties include development and maintenance of the libraries’ web site and virtual presence for 35,000 plus students, faculty and staff. She has an MLS and an MS in Information Management from Syracuse University. Karen has presented at many national and international conferences including ALA Annual, Internet Librarian, Access and ELAG; she has written articles for Computers in Libraries, Library Journal, Library Hi Tech, and Journal of Academic Librarianship. With Jason Griffey , she is the co-author of the book Library Blogging. In 2009, Karen was named a Library Journal Mover and Shaker. She is past-chair of the LITA Special Interest Group for Blogs, Wikis and interactive media, a member of the LITA Top Technology Trends panel, and the author of the Library Web Chic weblog. |
## Thom Hickey
Thom Hickey is OCLC's Chief Scientist. His interests include electronic publishing, information retrieval and display, and metadata creation and editing systems. Thom currently leads a group that is implementing the Virtual International Authority File (VIAF), investigating algorithms for the FRBR grouping of bibliographic works, applications of linked data, Z39.50 and its Web equivalents SRW/U, and parallel processing of metadata. Thom's group also maintains several open source systems, including the PURL software, the NDLTD harvest of electronic thesis metadata, and the Pears retrieval engine. Thom helped found the OCLC "research department," as it was originally called, in 1977. |
## Tod Matola
Tod is a Software Architect at OCLC and is currently working on the WorldCat Local project. He has 15 years experience with the design and construction of large-scale, enterprise, web applications, with a focus on XML based search applications. Tod's language proficiencies include Java, Groovy, functional languages, Perl, and C. His interests include agile development, Open Source Software, REST style architectures, Linked Data, metadata management systems, and information retrieval. |
## Jonathan Rochkind
Jonathan Rochkind has an MLIS from the University of Washington. He works on patron web services at the Johns Hopkins Libraries as Digital Services Software Engineer. |
## Ross Singer
Ross Singer is Interoperability and Open Standards Champion for Talis. Prior to joining Talis, Ross worked as a developer for the Georgia Tech Library where he won the previous OCLC Software contest for his entry of the Ümlaut, a replacement interface for OpenURL link resolvers. He has also worked for the libraries at Emory University and the University of Tennessee. Ross writes about library technology in his blog, Dilettante's Ball, and in his column for the Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship, Memo from the Systems Office. He is also heavily involved in the Code4lib community. |
## Roy Tennant
Roy Tennant is Senior Program Officer for OCLC Research. He is the owner of the Web4Lib and XML4Lib electronic discussions, and the creator and editor of Current Cites, a current awareness newsletter published every month since 1990. His books include Technology in Libraries: Essays in Honor of Anne Grodzins Lipow, Managing the Digital Library, XML in Libraries, Practical HTML: A Self-Paced Tutorial, and Crossing the Internet Threshold: An Instructional Handbook. Roy wrote a monthly column on digital libraries for Library Journal for a decade and has written numerous articles in other professional journals. In 2003, he received the American Library Association's LITA/Library Hi Tech Award for Excellence in Communication for Continuing Education. |