Open archives and SIGLE participation in Italy: Is there a subtle link between the two experiences?

This paper proposes on the one hand to outline Italian initiatives regarding open archives, with a qualitative rather than quantitative analysis, focussing in particular on data providers and on organisation and initiatives that lead to integration that encourage the development of IRs. On the other hand, it proposes to analyse the 20 years of Italian input to SIGLE in order to verify if and to what extent the Italian producers participating in SIGLE have contributed to the fostering of new ways of sharing and diffusing information sources produced within their organisations.