An Introduction to Digital Convergence: Libraries, Archives, and Museums in the Information Age

Abstract

The idea for this special issue arose at the Cultural Heritage Information Professionals (CHIPs) workshop in April 2008. Supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Florida State University, and the Ringling Museum of Art, the workshop’s goals were to explore the ability of educators to meet the information needs of cultural heritage organizations, and to encourage a closer relationship between education and practice in library and information science, museum studies, and archival studies programs. This workshop provided a valuable opportunity for the deans, directors, and faculty of those programs to meet and share ideas with professionals from the nation’s libraries, museums, and archives about the challenges facing information professionals as they work to transcend the traditional boundaries between libraries, archives, and museums, and meet user needs in the information age (for more information about the workshop, including the final workshop report, please see: http://chips.ci.fsu.edu). Based on the outcomes of the CHIPs workshop, the editors of Library Quarterly, Archival Science, and Museum Management and Curatorship agreed to publish three special issues (one for each journal) exploring the shared information needs and challenges facing libraries, archives, and museums in the information age; the overlapping educational goals of library and information science, archival studies, and museum studies programs; and areas of convergence for educators and professionals working to meet user needs in libraries, archives, and museums. This ‘‘special triple issue’’ was driven by the idea that the increased use of and reliance on digital resources has blurred traditional distinctions between information organizations, leading to a digital convergence of libraries, archives, and museums, and encouraging more research examining how libraries, archives, and museums can collaborate and combine forces to better serve their users. The topic of the ‘‘digital convergence’’ of libraries, archives, and museums has a lengthy history. Rayward (1998), for example, examined early on how changes from physical to digital media affect the traditional distinctions between information organizations in his article on ‘‘electronic information and the functional integration of libraries,