iSchools, legitimacy, and the contribution of archival studies to the iSchool movement

To what degree are iSchools fitting and gaining acceptance into their larger university environments? Their legitimacy rests upon the degree of acceptance within academia. Over time, isomorphic pressures such as coercion and normativity will lead iSchools to more resemble similar units on campus. The iSchools face many challenges, in part to a relative immaturity of research conducted in the field including pretensions of scientific status and a loss of identity through an overly interdisciplinary program of research. The quest for legitimacy will depend on the ability of iSchool participants to articulate what is unique about their field. The subfield of archival studies is examined in light of the possibility of serving, in part, as a body of research originating within iSchools. The area of archival studies is commended for its development of sui generis conceptual apparatus, a commitment to the full cultural record, expanding notions of use, and its own contributions to interdisciplinarity