INFORMATION STUDIES - EMERGENT FIELD, CONVERGENT CURRICULUM

Librarianship, archives management, and records management have functi oned largely as autonomous disciplines. Economic, technological, and h igher-education trends, however, mitigate against continued-possibly s elf-defeating-claims to uniqueness. A growing number of observations i n the literature about interfield relationships, pressing long-term ec onomic and higher-education realities, and a distinct language shift i n the Standards for Accreditation, 1992, toward greater inclusiveness encourage examination of shared conceptual characteristics among the i nformation fields. Areas of convergence include the information life-c ycle concept, gatekeeping, information storage and retrieval, informat ion representation, assistive/instructional roles, ethics, and custodi al/preservation concerns. Implications for education and research in a n emerging unified field of ''information management'' or ''informatio n studies'' are suggested.