The Fifteenth Distance Library Services Conference Proceedings: Part 1

What follows are the papers presented at the Fifteenth Distance Library Services Conference, held in Memphis, Tennessee, from April 18–20, 2012. Formerly known as the Off-Campus Library Services Conference, the organizers of the conference decided on a name change as a way to better reflect our profession's contemporary definition of distance library services in technological as opposed to geographical terms.<br><br>This having been said, the papers included in these issues once again represent the efforts and experiences of new and veteran librarians in providing library service to patrons in a rapidly changing and increasingly virtual environment. They are representative of our profession's best efforts to leverage technology, be proactive, and to create a new library model that meets the emergent needs and expectations of today's users. But despite the changes in the habits of our users and in our own processes and practices, the underlying commitment evidenced here is to the idea that our responsibility to our users is to shorten the distance between them and the information they need to be successful.