A celebration of the ECS archipelago | Bringing citizen science to public libraries

As the European Citizen Science (ECS) project enters its final year, we are celebrating our achievements through a distributed series of events across Europe. Organised in collaboration with the Slovenian Citizen Science Network and Public Libraries, and as part of the ECS final event series, A celebration of the ECS archipelago, we are organising a day of collaboration and capacity building. This event focuses on the journey through the development of the ECS digital meeting point, the citizenscience.eu, showcases citizen science impact stories, delivers training on citizen science and highlights the importance of public libraries in creating community and enhancing scientific literacy. Attendance at the event is free, but as places are limited, participation is by invitation.

Community of Practice: Citizen Science & Public Libraries

Public libraries interested in citizen science are invited to join this exciting new series of online events 'Community of Practice: Public Libraries & Citizen Science' happening throughout 2025. Hosted by SciStarter, ECS Academy, and PL2030 as part of the ECS project, these regular gatherings will connect libraries to share experiences, best practices, and guidance on developing their citizen science activities. Whether you're just starting out or looking to develop your citizen science programme, this is your opportunity to collaborate and grow.

ECS Collaboration Session - Advocacy in CS

Are you involved in citizen science projects or networks? The ECS Collaboration Sessions give you a platform to learn about different citizen science projects, exchange insights about key topics and competencies in CS, and share updates on your own work with a wide range of CS professionals. The ECS project is organising Collaboration Sessions once every two months. In these online Sessions, CS practitioners have the floor to host presentations, activities, and learning moments for the benefit of the European citizen science community. Do you want to learn about ongoing projects and specific competencies that can boost your own work? You are welcome join and participate in these sessions. Or do you want to host your own session, in which you share insights from your own work with the European CS community? Then, feel free to reach out to alex@stickydot.eu to arrange your session. Upcoming Session: February 4th - Amplify your Impact: Advocacy for Citizen Science Are you passionate about citizen science but unsure how to fully showcase its value to policymakers, funders, or even colleagues in your own organisation? Advocacy is a powerful tool for increasing awareness, recognition, funding, and policy change — but it can be tricky to get right! Join the upcoming ECS collaboration session focused on advocacy training for CS practitioners to learn and practice effective strategies to better communicate the value of your work and secure the support you need for your projects. This session is ideal for citizen science practitioners, project leaders, researchers, educators, and anyone passionate about advancing the field of citizen science. About the speaker: Ilona Kish With a wealth of experience in policy development and advocacy, Ilona has been a driving force behind numerous campaigns that have successfully highlighted the value of libraries to policymakers, funders, and communities across Europe and beyond. As Director of Public Libraries 2030, Ilona has been working to expand and reinforce the role of public libraries as beacons of citizen participation in science – and she sees the crucial role that advocacy skills play both in mainstreaming CS in Europe and in securing support for organisations working in the field. Session details: February 4th, 11:00 - 12:30 CET Online Format: Presentation from advocacy expert Ilona Kish + interactive group activities Interested in joining? Enter your email address below to receive the invite.

Citizen science and public libraries: networking session

ECS Academy, SciStarter and Public Libraries 2030 are organising an online networking session for public library staff to share their experiences, challenges, and exchange with members of the citizen science community. Join us to kickstart the building of a stronger, more connected European citizen science library community. 🗓️ September 19 ⏰15:00 (CEST) 🔗Register: https://forms.gle/1G5hBfyt7StC11vH9

ECS at the Ecsite conference 2023

A representative of the ECS | European Citizen Science project will be at the Ecsite conference 2023 to talk about the opportunity it offers. ECS represents a wide diversity of stakeholders have joined forces to create the capacity, structure, and connections to widen and strengthen the European citizen science community and establish citizen science as a recognised, promoted and funded approach. The four-year EU-funded project European Citizen Science will create capacity-building opportunities, provide open collaborative spaces where citizen scientists can familiarise themselves with open science principles, engage public libraries to attract underrepresented publics, as well as provide support to countries and regions which lack citizen science networks, platforms and policy recognition.

#TranskriBUWmaraton

#TranskriBUWmaraton is an event from 3 to 30 April 2023 as part of the Citizen Science Month celebrations. All interested readers and supporters of University of Warsaw Library will have the opportunity to cooperate in discovering, reading and transcribing historical handwritten documents, within a dedicated group on the FB profile of the University of Warsaw Library. This time we invited our colleagues from faculty libraries to cooperate. Especially for this occasion they chose interesting, rare and often surprising materials. Among them there are marginalia of one of the most eccentric Polish artists, handwritten maps, certificates labeling unique geological specimens and descriptions of plants from the so-called Hundred-year-old Herbarium. Together, we will try to unravel one of the unexplained mysteries of the Second World War, hidden in an encrypted and unread document from the collection of the Manuscripts Department of the University of Warsaw Library. And this is just a small part of what awaits you this year! We invite the entire academic community and all interested parties - both amateurs and specialists in their fields - to help in making historical sources more accessible and useful. As part of the project, for four weeks in April, we will be posting scans of selected handwritten documents on the TranskriBUW Facebook group. The task consist in reading and rewriting the text of the documents as precisely as possible and publishing the prepared transcripts in the comments section. The correctness of all prepared transcripts will be verified by University of Warsaw Library employees, who will further decide to link them to the scans of manuscripts placed in the Crispa. Digital Library of the University of Warsaw (https://crispa.uw.edu.pl/). Transcriptions will improve the readability as well as facilitate search and access to these handwritten documents. Everyone will be able to use them freely. The language of the event is Polish.

Webinar: Unlocking the Potential of Citizen Science Collaborations

This webinar is designed to discuss different approaches to citizen science by LIBER and ECSA Citizen Science Working Groups together with Leiden University, with the purpose of discovering synergies and potential opportunities for collaboration. During the webinar, speakers will cover: (1) achievements in advancing citizen science at libraries and universities; (2) the organisation of citizen science activities in universities, including a citizen science ‘engine room’ at the University of Southern Denmark; (3) how to embed citizen science activities for research and education purposes through sharing best practices, policies, and ‘sharing’ programmes; (4) finding the ‘sweet spot’ for citizen science in the matrix of faculty silos, top-down research, and bottom-up collaboration. We will hear the insights of four amazing speakers: Tiberius Ignat, Director of Scientific Knowledge Services (SKS); Anne Kathrine Overgaard, Head of External Projects at the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Southern Denmark; Thomas Kaarsted, Deputy Library Director at the University of Southern Denmark; and Margaret Gold, Coordinator of the Citizen Science Lab at Leiden University.

Citizen Science: Two Institutional Viewpoints from the UK and Denmark

In this webinar, LIBER’s Citizen Science Working Group will focus on the role of Citizen Science in research universities and libraries by exploring two case studies: the UCL office for Open Science and Scholarship, and Citizen Science Knowledge Center at the University of Southern Denmark. After this webinar you will be able to: • Achieve a greater understanding of the role of Citizen Science in research-led universities; • Be able to identify practical ways to implement Citizen Science to include citizens as partners in research; • Know where to find the resources and skills needed to deliver Citizen Science practice. Who should attend? Anyone interested in learning about how to bring Citizen Science to a university/research library environment.

Introduction to Citizen Science in Libraries Webinar

The Introduction to Citizen Science in Libraries Webinar will provide a general introduction to citizen science and explore how libraries can become partners in citizen science engagement. Learn how to access SciStarter’s library resources, build kits, and connect existing programs and communities to projects on SciStarter. This webinar is part of the Professional Development for Libraries Series hosted by the National Citizen and Community Science Library Network.

Learning Data Naturally SLA (Special Libraries Association) 2021

Public participation in scientific research through citizen science is gaining popularity across the world. Through data collection, citizen scientists contribute to the creation of open and research-grade data and build data literacy skills. Academic librarians are often uniquely positioned to promote citizen science projects both in the classroom and among community advocates, connecting researchers with life-long learners for the benefit of open science. During the on-demand session and throughout the conference, participants and attendees will ‘naturally’ engage with the process of science and learn data literacy skills such as data collection and sharing, by contributing to this dataset. Participants in the session will also be encouraged to pose questions, analyze data, draw conclusions, and communicate findings by exploring the data collected by conference attendees from around the world. Sign up/log into iNaturalist and join the project.

INOS Project Event – Integrating Citizen Science at Universities: From ‘What’ to ‘How

Should science focus on issues of public importance/respond to public concerns? What are the benefits of citizen involvement in scientific research? What are the pitfalls? These and many more questions are frequently raised by those engaging or wishing to engage in Citizen Science (CS). This two-day workshop is designed to provide input into what CS is and how CS projects can be implemented in universities and research libraries. The workshop will focus on: • The basics of CS and its benefits; • Requirements to take into consideration when involving citizen scientists in research projects; • Examples and benefits of integrating CS into educational programmes; • Practical guidance on how to develop and implement CS projects; • Examples of CS research projects. The workshop will be of a highly participatory nature, with participants required to work in small groups during their own time. The first session will take place at 10.00 CEST on the 2nd of June, followed by a session at 14:00 CEST on the 4th of June.