Beyond interdiscipilinarity?

Abstract

Convergence between archives, libraries and museums has been a critical issue in the recent scientific and professional debate, and it lead to a reconfiguration of the various disciplines related to LAM. The interdisciplinary approach seemed the most appropriate to give new meaning to the relationship between archives, libraries and museums, and the best suited to find a convergence path. The essay analyzes the different kinds of disciplinarity regardless of their domain of application, showing how multidisciplinarity, interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity represent three subsequent levels of cooperation and coordination. Exploring the nature of the relationships between the disciplines of archives, libraries and museums, the paper tries to provide an answer to two key research questions: where are these relationships positioned on the range between multi- and trans-disciplinarity? what are their chances of enhancement towards higher forms of cooperation?