Finding That Special Someone: Interdisciplinary Collaboration in an Academic Context

Abstract

As research collaboration in academia has increased over the past century, so has col- laboration across disciplinary boundaries, particularly in LIS, a field that has long been viewed as highly multidisciplinary. This increase is driven by the pressures on faculty seeking career advancement and by the challenges faced by the scientific community that require teams of researchers with diverse, complementary skills. Finding solutions to today's research problems can require increased integration of research, leading to a move from multidisciplinary to interdisciplinary research. This work examines collaboration as it is studied from several disciplinary perspectives to lay the groundwork for a better understanding of interdisciplinary collaboration and the challenges it presents. It also provides a pathway for LIS educators to harness the benefits of interdisciplinary collaboration and to advance research and teaching in the field.