Drivers to participate in Citizen Science

In recent years, libraries have evolved from an internal focus on providing the community with what they have to an external focus on listening to and meeting the needs of the community, - it was found by a study conducted by the University of Washington's Information School, "Public Libraries as Platforms for Civic Engagement" (Coward, McClay and Garrido, 2018). Participation, making and creating, learning, new outreach, and partnerships are five notable trends in public library innovation leading public libraries toward a model of active participation in communities (Nicholson, 2019). 

Even though libraries already have the skills and infrastructure and much experience in implementing open science activities in their university, the number and impact of citizen science projects remain low (Kaseorg et al., 2022).
 
According to the inquiry of academic libraries and citizen involvement in open science (Kaseorg et al., 2022), it can be clear that the main drivers for participation in citizen science are librarians’ competencies and skills, such as data management, communication and digital literacy. The other drivers are some environmental resources, i.e. large international and national networks which could be used for communication and dissemination activities, and existing infrastructure such as physical meeting space, internal repositories, and servers. The third group of drivers is the librarians’ experience training different groups of society.



Fig.  The threefold potential of citizen science for generating new knowledge (green), creating learning opportunities (blue), and enabling civic participation (yellow).

Source: Turrini, T., Dörler, D., Richter, A., Heigl, F., & Bonn, A. (2018). The threefold potential of environmental citizen science-Generating knowledge, creating learning opportunities, and enabling civic participation. Biological Conservation, 225, 176-186. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2018.03.024 


Libraries have great opportunities to become citizen science centres because people are already used to finding scientific information in the library. This relationship of mutual trust between citizens and libraries as institutions can be useful in engaging citizens to participate in time-bound research projects. In addition, libraries could mediate between citizens and researchers by sharing or borrowing special equipment so that they do not have to buy it to participate (Kaseorg et al., 2022).

Main drivers for librarians to participate in CS projects:

  • Data management skills;
  • Digital literacy skills;
  • Large network;
  • Library as a physical meeting place;
  • Internal repositories;
  • Established and trusted communication channels (Kaseorg et al., 2022).

Research librarians already have many skills that could be useful forparticipating in citizen science projects. The library can act as a liaison between participants, scientists and the media. Libraries have already established national and international networks, experience in disseminating information in regards to their
own events, so they could use their channels to disseminate information regarding different projects. Research libraries also have infrastructure like rooms for meetings and dissemination events, repositories and servers which could be used to preserve the dat, perform quality control etc.  

The main barriers to citizen science

The mirror principle can also describe barriers to citizen engagement and its connection to libraries.

The main barriers to citizen engagement at research libraries are lack of knowledge, experience, and information about different citizen science projects; lack of ideas and how libraries could be of use; not enough support from universities and policymakers, and people’s perception of how libraries are seen in the 21st century (Kaseorg et al., 2022).

Equally challenging is the simultaneous integration of scientific, educational, and engagement goals, which sometimes go as far as changing values, attitudes, and identity or inducing behavioural change and inspiring active citizenship (Price & Lee, 2013; Ballard et al., 2017).

These challenges stem from the engagement of project designers, facilitators, and participants in tasks and practices that they were usually never formally trained to perform. For example, non-scientists may not have the knowledge required to collect accurate data. Likewise, scientists may not be versed in volunteer recruitment and communication (Lorke et al., 2019).

Barriers why librarians do not participate in CS projects (Kaseorg et al., 2022)

  • Lack of knowledge about CS. Citizen science is quite a new and innovative object for librarians.  
  • Lack of knowledge about libraries’ services and potential. Researchers do not see academic libraries as a potential partners in CS projects, as academics stereotypically see the library as a conservative service provider, not a competent partner.  
  • Not enough visibility of CS projects. There is insufficient information about different projects and how libraries can be involved. 
  • Lack of workforce. Even if some academic libraries had a specialist focusing on open access, they were already engaged with training researchers and students. They did not have enough time to focus on citizen engagement.  
  • Not a priority for universities. If citizen science were a priority for the university, the libraries would be more involved. 
  • Lack of experience and specific skills.
  • Lack of ideas.
  • Since academic libraries are usually under a larger institution, citizen scientists are not willing to cooperate with them because they will set too many rules for the project or will not agree to support the project if it will not bring results to the whole society.


References

Ballard, H. L., Robinson, L. D., Young, A. N., Pauly, G. B., Higgins, L. M., Johnson, R. F., & Tweddle, J. C. (2017). Contributions to conservation outcomes by natural history museum-led citizen science: Examining evidence and next steps. Biological Conservation, 208, 87-97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2016.08.040.

Coward, C., McClay, C., Garrido, M. (2018). Public libraries as platforms for civic engagement. Seattle: Technology & Social Change Group, University of Washington Information School. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/41877.

Kaseorg, S., Neerut, L., Lembinen, L.& Arust, E. (2022). Drivers and barriers of citizen engagement in open science and the role of university libraries in the Baltics. https://zenodo.org/record/6997820#.Y9VoS3bP1D8.

Lorke, J., Golumbic, Y.N., Ramjan, C., and Atias, O., (2019): Training needs and recommendations for Citizen Science participants, facilitators and designers. COST Action 15212 report. http://hdl.handle.net/10141/622589.

McClure, E. C., Sievers, M., Brown, C. J., Buelow, C. A., Ditria, E. M., Hayes, M. A., ... & Connolly, R. M. (2020). Artificial intelligence meets citizen science to supercharge ecological monitoring. Patterns, 1(7),  100109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.patter.2020.100109.

Nicholson, K. (2019). Collaborative, creative, participative: Trends in public library innovation. Public Library Quarterly, 38(3), 331-347. https://doi.org/10.1080/01616846.2019.1571399.

Price, C. A., & Lee, H. S. (2013). Changes in participants' scientific attitudes and epistemological beliefs during an astronomical citizen science project. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 50(7), 773-801. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21090


Last modified: Thursday, 27 February 2025, 10:55 AM