Citizen science at public libraries: Data on librarians and users perceptions of participating in a citizen science project in Catalunya, Spain

As libraries struggle to keep pace with the changing societal landscape, emerging practices such as citizen science (CS) initiatives are being incorporated to reinforce the idea of public libraries as gathering, meeting, and collaboration spaces within the context of shared community and shared learning resources. However, there is little empirical evidence of whether the most open and participatory ways that CS puts forward can converge with and be nurtured by the essence of public libraries. Also, the roles of librarians and users in the ‘next generation public library’ have been under-developed. As the number of CS initiatives at public libraries grows, so does the need to collect evidence on the impact and the capacity of assimilation of CS practices. The data describes librarians and users' perceptions of participating in a citizen science project. Two hands-on activities for librarians of the Barcelona Network of Public Libraries were implemented. One was a training course for 30 librarians from 24 libraries which allowed them to envisage citizen science implementation in each library. The second activity consisted in the co-creation of a citizen social science project. 40 library users, 7 librarians from 3 different cities, and professional scientists, were involved. The data on librarians and users' perception was collected through participant observation, surveys, and a focus group to identify strengths and challenges of implementing citizen science at public libraries. The data covers librarians and users attitudes towards citizen science, their motivations to participate, their perceived ability to implement a citizen science project (as for librarians) or to contribute to science (as for library users), and the participants intention to keep engaged with citizen science, drawing on the Theory of Planned Behavior. Responses to closed-ended survey questions are analyzed at a descriptive level. The qualitative feedback from the focus group and the open-ended survey question on motivations is subjected to a thematic analysis. The data offers interesting insights to identify opportunities and challenges of implementing citizen science at public libraries, contributing to the debate over the public library's mission as local community hub.

The dataset is formed by 5 tables:

Librarians_pre.csv: data on librarians profiles, attitudes towards citizen science, expected impact of the project and self-efficacy collected at the beginning of the Citizen Science Lab.

Librarians_post.csv: data on librarians profiles, attitudes towards citizen science, perceived impact of the project and self-efficacy collected at the end of the Citizen Science Lab.

Users_first_phase.csv: data on users profiles, motivation, attitudes towards the library, confidence to perform scientific tasks and self-efficacy collected at the beginning of the Science and Citizen Action.

Users_second_phase.csv: data on users profiles and motivation collected at the middle of the Science and Citizen Action.

Users_last_phase.csv: data on users profiles, attitudes towards the library, confidence to perform scientific tasks and perceived impact of the project collected at the end of the Science and Citizen Action.

Citizen Science Lab Questionnaire (Librarians_pre)

Personal information

1. [rol_1] What is your role at the library?

Director

Library technician

Support technician

Service support

2. [years_1] How long have you been working at the library?

2 or less

3 to 5 years

6 to 10 years

11 to 20 years

more than 20 years

3. [back_1] Do you have a scientific background?

Yes

No

4. [know_1] Have you already heard about citizen science?

Yes

No

5. [part_1] Have you already participated in a citizen science project?

Yes

No

Attitudes towards users engagement

6. [att_lib_pre1] Do you believe that library users are able to participate in a citizen science project?

1 [Not at all]

2

3

4 [Totally]

7. [att_lib_pre2] Do you believe that library users will commit to participating in a citizen science project?

1 [Not at all]

2

3

4 [Totally]

Expected impacts

8. [exp_lib_pre] To what extent do you believe that citizen science may bring positive impacts to your library?

1 [Not at all]

2

3

4

5 [Totally]

Self-efficacy

9. [se_lib_pre1] Right now, do you feel able to recommend any citizen science project to library users?

Yes

No

10. [se_lib_pre2] Right now, do you feel able to implement yourself and lead a citizen science project?

1 [Not at all]

2

3

4 [Totally]

Citizen Science Lab Questionnaire (Librarians_post)

Personal information

1. [years_2] How long have you been working at the library?

2 or less

3 to 5 years

6 to 10 years

11 to 20 years

more than 20 years

2. [back_2] Do you have a scientific background?

Yes

No

3. [sat_1] To what extent does the project meet your initial expectations?

1 [Not at all]

2

3

4

5 [Totally]

Attitudes towards users engagement

4. [att_lib_post1] Do you believe that library users will commit to participating in a citizen science project?

1 [Not at all]

2

3

4 [Totally]

5. [att_lib_post2] What are/could be the potential barriers to users engagement in citizen science?

[open]

Perceived impact

6. [imp_lib] What do you believe that citizen science may bring to public libraries and users?

1 [Not at all] …… 5 [Totally]

a. Knowledge of the scientific process

b. New connections among participants                                                       

c. Fun

d. New knowledge of the local environment

e. Scientific evidence on a common concern

f. Social cohesion

g. Positive attitudes towards science

h. Willingness to learn

i. Critical thinking and self-efficacy

Self-efficacy

8. [se_lib_post1] Right now, do you feel able to recommend any citizen science project to library users?

Yes

No

9. [se_lib_post2] Right now, do you feel able to implement yourself and lead a citizen science project?

1 [Not at all]

2

3

4 [Totally]

Intention to keep engaged

10. [eng_lib] To what extent are you motivated to keep engaged with citizen science?

1 [Not at all]

2

3

4

5 [Totally]

Science and Citizens Action Focus group guide (Librarians)

Opening questions

1. To start with…. Are you satisfied with the project?

Probe: Yes, no, why? Was it fun/interesting/challenging/enriching….

2. Do you feel you have learned something new?

Probe: About your library’s environment, users, science and citizen science... Is there anything special that you will take with you after the project?

Reflections on the cocreation process

3. At what time during the project have you felt most comfortable?

Probe: For example, has it been easier to lead the activity and/or involve and retain the community? Did you find it entertaining?

4. At what time during the project have you felt less at ease?

Probe: What was challenging during the cocreation process?

5. To what extent do you feel more capable of implementing and leading a citizen science project in your library right now?

Probe: For example, in the case of both more crowdsourcing and of cocreated projects that actively involve the community

Reflections on the perceived impact

6. To what extent does the project meet your initial expectations?

Probe: in line with what you discussed at the beginning of the project, you expected it to promote participation, new connections among participants, improve the library perceptions and stimulate the participants’ critical thinking...Do you think that citizen science may meet these expectations?

Reflections on citizen science at public libraries

7. To what extent can citizen science (in its most ‘extreme’ form of participation) be imagined as an activity within the library that promotes more active user participation?

Probe: Through for example cocreation, experimentation, and hands-on learning activities...

8. Do you think that the activity has brought new knowledge? What new knowledge has the activity brought from your perspective?

Probe: Knowledge of the scientific process, knowledge of the community or new users...

9. What could be the opportunities and barriers of introducing citizen science at public libraries? And the barriers?

Probe: Like for example improving the perception of the library, actively involving certain users...What could be the ‘return’ for the community? What impact can citizen science projects have on making the environment more dynamic from libraries?

10. More generally, what could be the ‘added value’ of the introduction of citizen science within the library’s range of activities?

Probe: Is it a fun activity that promotes socialization, for example? Or that allows to generate new knowledge? Or that highlights the library’s social value? Or, also, that may offer new uses and new roles to the library? Can it foster a sense of community with the library as a connector? What other impacts can be generated in your environment?

Closing

11. Do you see yourselves the next year, implementing a citizen science project as part of the library’s range of activities? And adopting an existing one?

Probe: Are you motivated to get more involved with citizen science projects? What kind of projects? What level of user involvement do you expect? What barriers do you see to users’ involvement? What benefits and opportunities do you think you can bring to the library?

12. We have now reached the end of the discussion. Anyone want to add anything else?

Science and Citizens Action Questionnaire (Users_first_phase)

Personal information

1. [gen_1] Are you..?

Woman

Man

NA

2. [years_3] How old are you?

18-25

26-35

36-45

46-55

56-65

66+

3. [rol_2] What is your role at the library?

Library user not associated with local associations

Library technician

Member of a local association

Representative of public administrations

Representative of the private sector

Others:

4. [back_3] Do you have a scientific background?

Yes

No

5. [part_2] Have you already participated in a citizen science project?

Yes

No

Motivations to participate

6. [mot_us] What did motivate you to participate in the project?

[open]

Attitudes towards the library

7. [att_us_pre1] To what extent do you believe that your library is responsive to the community needs?

1 [Not at all]

2

3

4 [Totally]

8. [att_us_pre2] To what extent to you believe your library is able to face local challenges based on users' active participation?

1 [Not at all]

2

3

4

5 [Totally]

Confidence to perform scientific tasks

9. [conf_us_pre] To what extent do you feel able to contribute to perform the following scientific tasks:

1 [Not at all] …… 4 [Totally]

a. Formulate the research question

b. Data collection

c. Analysis and interpretation of the results

d. Propose concrete actions based on scientific evidence

Self-efficacy

10. [se_us_pre] To what extent do you feel able to positively contribute to the library and your community?

1 [Not at all]

2

3

4 [Totally]

Science and Citizens Action Questionnaire (Users_second_phase)

Personal information

1. [gen_3] Are you..?

Woman

Man

NA

2. [years_5] How old are you?

18-25

26-35

36-45

46-55

56-65

66+

3. [rol_4] What is your role at the library?

Library user or technician not associated with local associations

Member of a local association

Representative of public administrations

Representative of the private sector

Others:

3. [back_5] Do you have a scientific background?

Yes

No

4. [mot_us2] To what extent are you motivated to carry out the experiment?

1 [Not at all]

2

3

4

5 [Totally]

Science and Citizens Action Questionnaire (Users_last_phase)

Personal information

1. [gen_2] Are you..?

Woman

Man

NA

2. [years_4] How old are you?

18-25

26-35

36-45

46-55

56-65

66+

3. [rol_3] What is your role at the library?

Library user or technician not associated with local associations

Member of a local association

Representative of public administrations

Representative of the private sector

Others:

3. [back_4] Do you have a scientific background?

Yes

No

4. [part_3] To how many cocreation sessions have you participated?

None

1

2

3

5. [sat_2] To what extent are you satisfied with the experiment?

1 [Not at all]

2

3

4

5 [Totally]

Attitudes towards the library

6. [att_us_post] To what extent do you believe that the project has positively changed your perception of the library?

1 [Not at all]

2

3

4

5 [Totally]

Confidence to perform scientific tasks

7. [conf_us_post] To what extent do you feel able to contribute to perform the following scientific tasks:

1 [Not at all] …… 5 [Totally]

a. Formulate the research question

b. Data collection

c. Analysis and interpretation of the results

d. Propose concrete actions based on scientific evidence

Perceived impact

8. [imp_us] What do you believe that citizen science may bring to public libraries and users?

1 [Not at all] …… 5 [Totally]

a. Knowledge of the scientific process

b. New connections among participants                                                                 

c. Fun

d. New knowledge of the local environment

e. Scientific evidence on a common concern

f. Social cohesion

g. Positive attitudes towards science

h. Willingness to learn

i. Critical thinking and self-efficacy