Editor's Welcome

As Editor and founder of the Journal of Library Services for Distance Education, I would like to welcome you to our very first issue. Although this project has been officially in the works for nearly a year, it has actually been a "gleam in its mother's eye" for much longer than that. As a former Coordinator of Off-Campus Library Services who was constantly in search of new sources of assistance for designing and improving our own services, I became aware that there was no scholarly journal which consistently published articles dealing with my subspeciality of librarianship. Although I could not afford to attend, I learned a great deal from reading the proceedings of the many Off-Campus Library Services Conferences sponsored by Central Michigan University Libraries, and appreciated the chance to dialog with my colleagues on the OFFCAMP list (which, by the way, is owned by a member of our new Editorial Board, Barton Lessin of Wayne State) --but still I dreamed of a journal just for us!

I had always thought in terms of a paper/print publication, but was reasonably certain that my own institution would not be able to provide the financial support for such a project. But then, early in Summer 1996, I had the opportunity to publish an article in an electronic journal produced at my alma mater, State University of New York at Buffalo. I was very impressed that the process went so smoothly and my article appeared so quickly--and suddenly the answer dawned: an e-journal was definitely the way to go. Not only would it be reflective of the high tech orientation of most librarians involved in supporting distance education, it would be inexpensive to create and very accessible to international participation--which is very important, since so many exciting developments in library services to distance education are happening outside the U.S.

I requested and secured the backing of our Library administration, and then, with some trepidation, proposed my plan on OFFCAMP, asking for volunteers for an editorial board. The response was overwhelmingly positive, and I was swamped with offers to participate. It would have been unwieldy to have accepted help from everyone who contacted me, so I reluctantly had to choose a few and turn down many other wonderful librarians--who I hope will be among those contributing articles to future issues. I know from experience that we have so much to offer each other!

In any event, one of our new editors, Alexander (Sandy) Slade of the University of Victoria in British Columbia, suggested that we make the first issue a forum to discuss the future of library services for off-campus/distance education, and invite selected leaders in this field (including our own Editorial Board members) to contribute a summary of their views. He graciously offered to make the contacts, and because he himself is very well-known in this area, we received an excellent array of articles reflecting many different perspectives. Besides Sandy Slade, another person who deserves special mention here is Chris Huff, Systems Librarian at State University of West Georgia, who designed and created our webpages. I initially only asked him for help, but instead, he grabbed the ball and ran for a touchdown! Thanks so much Chris, for your essential contributions. And now, I hope you will enjoy this issue and the many to come. We welcome your contributions, as well as suggestions for topics which you would like to see considered in the future.

Carol Goodson, Editor
State University of West Georgia