Toward Interdisciplinarity in Literary Research

Abstract

Literary research has become more interdisciplinary in the last two decades, caused by a fragmentation of disciplines, a reexamination of the literary canon in response to societal demands for cultural relevance, and the growing impact of computer technology. This trend has changed patterns of literary publication and use of literature collections in libraries. To respond to these changes, literature bibliographers have had to overcome rigidly disciplinary selection tools, conventional staffing patterns, and uniform methods of allocating acquisition budgets. Strategies for coping with these problems include improved communication among selectors and use of new, computer generated selection tools to identify and acquire important interdisciplinary publications.