Welcome to Digital Libraries '95, the second international conference on the theory and practice of digital libraries! Much has happened in the year since our first conference: a great deal of research and development; much debate around issues of publishing and intellectual property; the unabated growth of the Internet and the search for ordering principles. Generally speaking, the topic of digital libraries has acquired greater prominence, both within the research world as well as in the public sphere.
We are fortunate to be participating in the formation of a new community, which draws insight and expertise from multiple domains, including computer science, library and information science, and the social sciences. We face the usual challenges that arise in attempting cross-disciplinary collaboration and dialog - among them, acknowledging and dealing with differing vocabularies, methods and perspectives. But at the same time, we share the excitement of participating in, and helping to shape, developments of great societal import.
This year's papers cover much ground: reports on existing digital library projects, as well as investigations of particular technical, social, and economic issues. The forums and panels are equally diverse: Bill Arms' forum on naming resources on the Internet; Pamela Samuelson's look at intellectual property issues; and Ann Bishop and Philip Doty's exploration of users and use. As with last year's proceedings, we are again pleased to be able to provide both a bound volume and a digital version on the World-Wide Web.
Finally, a special thanks to our sponsors: the Center for the Study of Digital Libraries, Texas A&M University; the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, The University of Texas at Austin; and the W.M. Keck Center for Genome Informatics, Institute of Biosciences and Technology, Texas A&M University.
David M. Levy
General Chair