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The relationship between galaxies and absorption systems in the vicinities of QSOs is examined, based on results of an ongoing imaging and spectroscopic survey of faint galaxies in fields of Hubble Space Telescope spectroscopic target QSOs. Evidence of a ``galaxy proximity effect'' is presented. Specifically, it is show that galaxies in the vicinities of QSOs do not possess the same extended halos that galaxies far from QSOs possess. Implications for application of the proximity effect toward measurement of the intensity of the background ultraviolet radiation field and for the origin and nature of associated absorption sytems are discussed.