First part of the LIBER Citizen Science for Research Libraries guide now published

Citizen Science Skilling for Library Staff, Researchers, and the Public, the first part of the four-part book series named Citizen Science for Research Libraries — A Guide, has been published by the LIBER Citizen Science Working Group.

The guide is designed to be a practical toolbox to help run a citizen science project. It has been put together from contributions by members of the research library community and has been thoroughly peer-reviewed. It is based on the LIBER Open Science Roadmap.

The skilling section focuses on the use of data and this new challenging role for the library — in public engagement and supporting researchers. The guide provides a number of step-by-step guides and concrete project examples. In the guide, readers can learn about the different roles for citizens in a project, project management, communication, the use of data and knowledge provided by citizens, questions of FAIR data, and how scientific literacy can be used for co-creation and education in citizen science.

Citizen science is quite often closely linked to the creation of data. Citizen science can be used by the researcher to identify which data may answer their questions, or in increasing scientific literacy in wider society by attracting citizens and other stakeholders interested in the data: collecting data, telling the story of the data, or repurposing data.

Citizen science is also a key pillar of open science. The UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science creates, for the first time, consensus on definitions and principles for open science. Citizen science plays a variety of roles in the overall open science endeavour of the democratization of knowledge.

The book can be accessed online here. For any other information, you can directly contact the Co-Editor-in-Chief Simon Worthington.