The first roundtable focused on the view of the librarians. They were interested in taking part in citizen science projects but mentioned that lack of knowledge about what it is and how to find information about ongoing projects as the main barriers. Librarians were confident they could initiate projects and saw libraries as the bridge that could unite all stakeholders.

The second roundtable focused on researchers. Most of them had personal experience with either initiating or participating in a citizen science project but none had worked with libraries so far. They saw libraries as supportive partners, especially when it came to providing rooms, training on how to collect and manage data and how to communicate with different stakeholders. Researchers from all countries mentioned that libraries have large networks that could be very useful when it comes to looking for participants and also disseminating results at the end of the project.

The last roundtable focused on university students. Most of them had little to no experience with citizen science projects but were interested in taking part in some projects in the future. The main barrier for this target group was lack of knowledge on what libraries offer and how they could be useful for citizen science projects. They mentioned that libraries could be places where people find information about ongoing projects. Students also suggested that if libraries offered credits points for these projects, students would be more willing to actively participate.

A full report on the viewpoints of librarians, researchers and university students from the Baltic countries will be made available in LibOCS Zenodo collection by the end of June 2022.

Article written by Svea Kaseorg (UT Library)