Automated Classification of Stellar Spectra: Where Are We Now

We briefly review the work of the past decade on automated classification of stellar spectra and discuss techniques which show particular promise. Emphasis is placed on Artificial Neural Network and Principle Component Analysis based techniques, due both to our greater familiarity with these and to their rising popularity. As an example of the abilities of current techniques we report on our automated classification work based on the visual classifications of N. Houk (Michigan Spectral Catalogue, Vol. 1 - 4, 1975, 1978, 1982, 1988)