University libraries strengthening the academia-society connection through citizen science in the Baltics

Open Science (OS) and Citizen Science (CS) are essential for the European Union (EU), and Baltic universities recognize their strategic importance. The LibOCS project aimed to integrate CS and OS ...

Main achieved objectives: 1) Mapping Civic Engagement in CS and OS (PR1): Identify drivers and barriers of civic engagement in Open Science (OS) and explore the role of academic libraries in Citizen Science (CS) activities. Result: The OA report was based on round tables with staff from Baltic university libraries, teaching/research staff, and students. This report is a strategic resource for knowledge exchange in the Baltic region. 2) Dialogue and Action Plan (PR2): Facilitate dialogue and action planning among HE teaching/research staff and librarians in the Baltic states, focusing on volunteer CS projects. Purpose: Strategically position libraries in contemporary information societies. 3) LibOCS Training (PR3): Enhance CS and OS skills of HE academic and library personnel in the Baltics. Outcome: Creation of OA training materials for broader dissemination beyond project participants. 4) Institutional Change through CS Point of Contact (PR5): Implement CS single point of contact in LibOCS universities. Goal: Prepare and enhance partners’ CS participation through tailored consultations. 5) OA toolkit (PR6): Develop an OA toolkit with educational resources (OER) for librarians for knowledge sharing among libraries.

Following activities were carried out during the project: PR1 Writing a report on drivers and barriers of civic engagement in open science and the role of university libraries in the Baltics. PR1A1.Writing a working paper « Drivers and barriers of civic engagement in open science and the role of university libraries in the Baltics” PR1A2. (virtual) round table 1 (with staff at Baltic university libraries) PR1A3. (virtual) round table 2 (with teaching and research staff at Baltic universities) PR1A4. (virtual) round table 3 (with university students in the Baltics) PR1A5. Short guidelines on results from the round tables. Title: « Drivers and barriers of civic engagement in open science and the role of university libraries in the Baltics” PR1A6. Synthesis of the report in partner languages ACTIVITIES OF PR2 Study: the transformative role of university libraries for citizen and open science in the Baltics. PR2A1. Information sessions at each Baltic university: civic engagement in open science: (inter)disciplinary perspectives PR2A2. Citizen science in practice: citizen science activities by teaching/research staff with librarians to support them PR2A3. Data analysis PR2A4. Study: the transformative role of university libraries for citizen and open science in the Baltics PR2A5. Synthesis of the report in partner languages ACTIVITIES OF PR3 Collection of resources for staff training in Baltic academic libraries on the topic of civic engagement in open science. PR3A1. Open access collection of resources in Baltic academic libraries to build the training resources PR3A2. Design framework for open access modules PR3A3. Three open access modules for staff training PR3A4. 1-day training sessions at partner universities ACTIVITIES OF PR5 Institutional change: testing and implementing a citizen science single point of contact at universities. PR5A1. Pre-implementation consultation at Baltic HEIs PR5A2. Current analysis of practices at participating Baltic HEIs PR5A3. Consultancy and service development workshops with partner universities (for implementation of tailored-made BESPOC solutions) PR5A4. Institutional change: report on achievements in the five participating institutions PR5A5. Forward looking paper “Public-Scholarly Engagement in Baltic HEIs” PR5A6. Transferability through institutional and policy change: focus in Estonia ACTIVITIES OF PR6: A toolkit on CS/OS. PR6A1. Continuous open access collection of resources on OS/CS for libraries PR6A2. Τoolkit for librarians on OS/CS containing videos PR6A3. LibOCS project collection on Zenodo

PR 1 activities were led by University of Tartu. Following outputs and results were achieved: PR1 Writing a report on drivers and barriers of civic engagement in open science and the role of university libraries in the Baltics. PR1A1. A paper « Drivers and barriers of civic engagement in open science and the role of university libraries in the Baltics” was published in June 2022. (Kaseorg, Svea, Neerut, Lilian, Lembinen, Liisi, & Arust, Evelin. (2022). Drivers and barriers of citizen engagement in open science and the role of university libraries in the Baltics. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6997820). This article, mapping drivers and barriers of civic engagement and the role of Baltic libraries in CS was written based on desk research and study involving three different stakeholder groups in discussion round tables. PR1 A2-4. The study was carried out in March of 2022. Planning of the study started with the roundtable among project partners on the 19th of January 2022, where we mapped why libraries should participate in citizen science projects and the possible reasons why libraries have not been very active so far. In addition, we set down questions and topics the study should address during the stakeholder roundtables (researchers, students, and librarians). The roundtables with three stakeholder groups were carried out in March 2022. In total, 23 librarians, 19 researchers, and 20 university students from three Baltic countries participated in these roundtables. Results from these roundtables were transcribed and analyzed, and reported in the paper under PR1A1. PR1A5.Short guidelines on results from the round tables. Title: « Drivers and barriers of civic engagement in open science and the role of university libraries in the Baltics.” Based on the study, short guidelines for academic libraries were produced, and these can be found at the end of the report. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6997820 PR1A6. Synthesis of the report in partner languages. Synthesis of the report was produced in English and translated into all partner languages: Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, German, and Greek. Synthesis was published in the LibOCS Zenodo collection, webpage, and social media. PR 1 planned outcomes were met, and there were no changes in this PR. The timeframe for PR 1 was set from 2022-01-2022-06, and the PR was finished by that time. PR2 activities were led by the University of Latvia to realize its main aim - study: the transformative role of university libraries and other memory institutions for citizen and open science in the Baltics. PR2A1. Information sessions at each Baltic university: civic engagement in open science: (inter)disciplinary perspectives Information campaigns were organized in five Baltic partner institutions to realize the main task of PR2 – study on the topic: transformative role of university libraries for citizens and open science in the Baltics. Each partner from Baltics carried out two types of information campaigns: one - a series of blog posts, which included interviews with researchers about Citizen Science and an invitation to participate in the survey of the study (PR2), as well as dissemination of information on the survey* by email; the second – an international webinar, where the goal was to start a dialog and to get the public interested in Citizen Science by giving the brief insight into civic engagement in research activities, Citizen Science projects, libraries support for research as well as an invitation to be active and participate in the survey*. Webinar gathered professional researchers, amateur researchers, librarians, and other memory institutions professionals, as well as other interested parties, to explore opportunities for better collaboration and more active involvement of citizens in science-related activities and projects. Milestone (M8) – 10 information campaigns have been carried out. * During the study, two surveys were conducted. The running of the first survey was assumed significant since there was quite little specific information about the engaged parties and it was relevant to identify as many CS projects or research activities with civic engagement in the Baltics as possible. This survey also helped identify potential respondents' contact information for the second survey to collect data on collaborative experience in CS projects (PR2A2). The second survey traced respondents' experience and views as participants in CS projects or research activities with civic engagement. PR2A2. Citizen science in practice: citizen science activities by teaching/research staff with librarians to support them Surveys were organized in order to fulfill project task PR2A2 – for getting feedback on participation in the Citizen Science hubs or projects or research activities with civic engagement. To carry out M9 – at least 75 completed survey questionnaires, there were organized surveys for three types of respondents: professional researchers, librarians and specialists of other memory institutions, and citizens engaged in science. The range of respondents was expanded from librarians to specialists of other memory institutions in order to overcome the risk of not being able to collect sufficient feedback, which was seen during the implementation of PR1. The first survey collected 127 completed questionnaires. The second survey collected 60 completed questionnaires. PR2A3. Data analysis Data analysis was done using the QuestionPro tool and Microsoft Excel. The content analysis method was used to analyze the responses to open questions. The analysis of the results of the first survey helped to create more precise questionnaires for the second survey for each group of respondents. During data analysis, the M10 – draft of the study was started. PR2A4. Study: the transformative role of university libraries and other memory institutions for citizen and open science in the Baltics During PR2A4, M10, and M11 – the final version of the study was completed. The report “The Transformative Role of University Libraries and other Memory Institutions for Citizen Science and Open Science in the Baltics” is available in the Zenodo, LibOCS project collection. Rozenberga, G., Liepa, M., & Saviča, M. (2022). The Transformative Role of University Libraries and other Memory Institutions for Citizen Science and Open Science in the Baltics (Version 1). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7494171 Rozenberga, G., Liepa, M., & Saviča, M. (2022). The Transformative Role of University Libraries and other Memory Institutions for Citizen Science and Open Science in the Baltics (Version 1). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7494171 PR2A5. Synthesis of the report was published in partner languages. M12 – synthesis of the short version of the study was carried out as well as translation to all partner’s languages was organised successfully. Short reports are available in the Zenodo, LibOCS project collection. Rozenberga, G., Liepa, M., & Saviča, M. (2022). The Transformative Role Of University Libraries And Other Memory Institutions For Citizen Science And Open Science In The Baltics (Version 1). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7593936 Rozenberga, G., Liepa. Marta, & Saviča, M. (2023). Akadēmisko bibliotēku un atmiņas institūciju transformatīvā loma sabiedriskajai zinātnei un atvvērtājai zinātnei Baltijas valstīs (Version 1). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7594396 Birk, K. (2022). Ülikooliraamatukogude ja teiste mäluasutuste muutuv roll kodanikuteaduse ja avatud teaduse vaates baltikumis (Version 1). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7594408 Pranckutė, A. (2022). Transformuojantis universitetų bibliotekų ir kitų atminties institucijų vaidmuo atvirajame ir piliečIų moksle baltijos šalyse (Version 1). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7593974 Tiberius Ignat, & Adriana Ignat. (2022). Die transformative rolle von universitätsbibliotheken und anderen gedächtnisinstitutionen für bürgerwissenschaft und offene wissenschaft in den baltischen ländern (Version 1). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7638852 Aris Dimitriou. (2022). Ο μετασχηματιστικος ρόλος των πανεπιστημιακών βιβλιοθηκών και άλλων ιδρυμάτων μνήμης για την επιστήμη των πολιτών και την ανοικτή επιστήμη στη βαλτική (Version 1). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7638486 Changes in PR 2 planned outcomes: PR2 had two slight changes in its activities compared to the original plan. Information sessions in each university were replaced with two studies accompanied with information campaigns. There was a slight shift in the PR2 timeframe. It was planned to be finished by the end of August 2022, but we extended the second survey for a month because of a small number of responses. The survey was finished, and the study results were published in October 2022. Based on this slight change, we also held the PR2 virtual multiplier event in October during the Open Access week instead of September as originally planned. This was done for two main reasons: to present the finished PR2 results and to receive more audience, which Open Access Week always presents. PR3 activities were led by Kaunas University of Technology to achieve following results: PR1A1 Open access collection of resources in Baltic academic libraries to build the training resources. At least 50 well-chosen resources had to be collected under the criterion that they are relevant and suitable as resources to build an open access training course. 59 resources, including articles, e-books, guides, manuals, toolkits and other materials, were collected and annotated. The list is hosted in the KTU Library website and linked to the LibOCS project website due to the limitations of the project website. Link: https://library.ktu.edu/citizen-science/#resources The List is also available on Zenodo: Pranckutė, A., Augustinienė, A., Tautkevičienė, G., Neerut, L., Kaseorg, S., Lembinen, L., Birk, K., Tõiste, T., Rozenberga, G., Karule, M., Saviča, M., Sabaitytė, G., & Bucevičiūtė, L. (2022). Open Access Collection of Resources on Open and Citizen Science. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12577969 PR3A2. Design framework for open access modules KTU team released a design framework common to all modules, containing design principles and specifications, module structure/size, quality assurance, content creation guidelines. Tautkevičienė, G., & Pranckutė, A. (2022). Framework of the Open Access modules. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12578374 PR3A3. The open access self paced course for librarians consisting of 5 modules. The course covers 45 learning hours overall. LibOCS partners co-created the modules depending on the expertise on the topics selected and based on the PR3A2 design framework. The course is hosted in Kaunas University of Technology Open Courses platform https://open.ktu.edu/course/view.php?id=161 The course is annotated in Zenodo: Pranckutė, A., Augustinienė, A., Tautkevičienė, G., Neerut, L., Kaseorg, S., Lembinen, L., Birk, K., Tõiste, T., Rozenberga, G., Karule, M., Savica, M., Bucevičiūtė, L., & Sabaitytė, G. (2024, birželio 26). Citizen Science for Librarians: Self Paced Learning Course. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12545994 PR3A4. 1-day training sessions at partner universities. Face-to-face training sessions of 1 day took place at libraries of partner universities. Milestone #17 achieved (5 one-day training sessions at partner universities organized). 16/04/2023 - LU organized 1-day training session titled “The near future of libraries: project management and citizen involvement in science”. 51 participants: academic, public and school libraries staff and library science and information study program students. 25/04/2023 - VMU organized 1-day training session at Vytautas Magnus University (Kaunas, Lithuania). 21 librarian participated. 28/04/2024 - KTU organized 1-day training session at Vilnius County Adomas Mickevičius Public Library (Vilnius, Lithuania). 22 librarians participated. 03-04/05/2023 - Two trainings done together by TU and TalTech in two days, on 3 and 4 May. 40 librarians participated. PR3 was connected to multiplier event #3 Milestone #18: Multiplier event #3 (face-to-face): skills for staff of academic libraries in the field of open and citizen science. The event took place at Kaunas University of Technology Campus Library, 11th of June, 2024. PR5 activities were led by IB building up the following outputs and results: Part of PR5A1 and following 5 consultations with each LibOCS HEIs, we published an analyisis report with initial recommendations for implementing BESPOC. The paper is available on Zenodo. Ignat, T., Sabaitytė, G., Laima, B., Lembinen, L., Neerut, L., Kaseorg, S., Rozenberga, G., Birk, K., Tõiste, T., Tautkevičienė, G., Pranckutė, A., & Zourou, K. (2023). BESPOC Implementation at Baltic Universities, A LibOCS Analysis Report and Initial Recommendations (Version V1). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10425191 237 views and 136 downloands (updated 18.06.2024). Part of PR5A2, we held 10 workshops with the 5 LibOCS HEIs (2 for each), analysing the research practices, needs and expertise for each participating HEI. 10 consultations sessions (2 for each HEI) made the PR5A3 after which each institution received tailored consultancy and a manual of how to implement the BESPOC model in their institution. PR5A4 produced a report on the progress of each university and achievements in terms of the level of implementation, further steps, and changes noticed. Ignat, T., Kaseorg, S., Neerut, L., Lembinen, L., Rozenberga, G., Birk, K., Tõiste, T., Tautkevičienė, G., Pranckutė, A., Zourou, K., & Oikonomou, S. (2024). Citizen Science Institutional Change Through BESCPOC Implementations. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10949874 (Milestone 29) 30 views and 25 downloands (updated 18.06.2024). As a result of PR5A5 we published a paper describing the experience of implementing BESPOC prototypes in Estonia which was useful to attract further international conversation and to help spin a set of good practices internationally. Ignat, T., Kaseorg, S., Neerut, L., Lembinen, L., Rozenberga, G., Zourou, K., & Oikonomou, S. (2024). Forward-Looking to Public-Scholarly Engagement in Baltic Higher Education Institutions. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11067940 (Milestone 30) 50 views and 33 downloads (updated 18.06.2024). We did a Multiplier Event (ME5) with european research libraries (Milestone 32) which was designed to multiply the achievements of LibOCS and to inspire an international scholarly conversation about its results in the Baltic countries. Ignat, T., Neerut, L., Rozenberga, G., Tõiste, T., Pranckutė, A., & Keersmaekers, F. (2024, April 17). (Citizen Science) LibOCS BESPOC Implementation. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10997677 28 views and 32 downloads (updated 18.06.2024). Anoter Multiplier Event (ME6) was organised with CS practitioners, with a specific (but not limiting) target to the ECSA “Citizen Science and Universities” working group. The main aim was to present the BESPOC implementation progress to experienced citizen science practitioners and to collect expert opinion and feedback. ME6: Ignat, T., Lembinen, L., Neerut, L., Pranckutė, A., & Rozenberga, G. (2024). (Citizen Science) LibOCS BESPOC Implementation. (Citizen Science) LibOCS BESPOC Implementation, Webinar. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10964730 33 views and 27 downloads (updated 18.06.2024). PR5A6: Article on topic “Implementing Citizen Science Activities in Baltic University Libraries: On the Road to a Citizen Science Hub” (original title was “Transferability through institutional and policy change: focus in Estonia”) Starting with an article showed that only Estonian focus is not enough for this wide field. Decided to add Baltic countries as a research target, every LibOCS partner could describe the situation with CS in their countries. New approach to the research paper gave a new title and focus: “Implementing Citizen Science Activities in Baltic University Libraries: On the Road to a Citizen Science Hub”. Article consists of four chapters: with subchapters (LibOCS in the Context of Citizen Science, The Status of Citizen Science and Scale of Activities in the Baltic States, From Need to Action, Key Takeaways from the Project) and introduction and conclusion. The article brings to the fore key results of the implementation of citizen science (CS) practices at universities and their libraries by focusing on five Baltic universities. It observes the improvement of skills and knowledge in the participating organisations. It examines the need and readiness for the institutional change necessary for implementing CS practices in the Baltics and the ways the participating organisations have improved in the field of CS during the LibOCS project. The study aims to determine to what extent the framework of the current project and the implementation of the BESPOC model (Broad Engagement in Science, Point of Contact) included in the project could act as a blueprint for other organisations wanting to implement institutional and policy change to advance in the field of CS. These kinds of hubs or knowledge centres have already been established in some Central and Western European countries and it is necessary to create that kind of support system in the Baltic universities. The article is based on the interviews, surveys, and workshops held on the topics of CS advocacy and implementation of the BESPOC model at Baltic universities led by five university libraries: TalTech, UT, UL, KTU, and VMU. The article introduces the core aspects of the LibOCS project, describes the starting point of the participating organisations, and librarians, their level of knowledge about CS and its practices, and proceeds with the changes that took place during the five major project stages and their outputs. The article presents the knowledge growth of the participants, the tools and training materials created for librarians, and the practical consultations and workshops that led to the implementation process of the BESPOC model. The more knowledgeable the librarians are, the easier it is to implement CS-related services and establish a central hub. As a result of the project, a positive shift towards the openness to CS activities and its support systems has been identified within participating libraries, and some elements of a single point of contact model are already in development. However, to fully adopt that approach, universities have to include CS in their strategies and allocate resources, entrusting the leader of the process with the work of creating a CS hub. The article has passed peer-review process at “LIBER Quarterly”. The reviewers feedback was highly supportive with only a few minor suggestions for change which have now been addressed by the authors. The paper will be published by “LIBER Quarterly” in next few weeks, the prestigious journal of the European Association of Research Libraries. Connect-Science&Society This AI allows human-AI discussions based on our PR6 curated resources. This AI-based tool is intended for those interested on how science connects with society. It shows a possible path for public engagement discussion point for research organisations and the everyday public on research-related matters in which AI could provide answers based on a human-supervised knowledge base. The AI tool set to deliver the conversation is based on the OpenAI’s ChatGPT.. The uniqueness of this experimental tool, additionally delivered in LibOCS as a testing pilot, is that the knowlege based that takes priority in machine-generated texts is curated by humans (LibOCS staff) and is the result of the PR6 package. Link: https://chatgpt.com/g/g-P4K6ou2AK-connect-science-society PR 6 activities were led by TalTech. Following outputs and results were achieved: PR6A1 – 100 curated open access resources, found at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11243773 The target was 100 publications but project partners managed to collect almost 150 resources. They are presented in a PDF, all publications are categorised by topic, language, and resource type. All resources are annotated and supplemented with keywords, to give a better overview for readers. The resources are divided into eleven chapters: What is Citizen Science?, Libraries and Citizen Science, Training and Capacity Building, Citizen-generated Data and its Management, Engagement Activities, Legal and Ethical Considerations, Promotion and Outreach Strategies, Good Practices, Examples and Recommendations, Policies, Infrastructures, Evaluation. Materials can be found in Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian and English languages. There are videos, infographics, pictures, books, articles and papers, reports, websites, e-courses, webinars, podcasts and other audio materials to read, see, and use for self development. The list has a CC-BY license, all external links retain their original license. All full texts of the resources are accessible openly and easily found clicking the title which acts as a link to the original site. PR6A2 – Toolkit for librarians, found at https://www.libocs.ut.ee/toolkit/ Contains open access materials about citizen science in Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, English and other languages (PR6A2). The toolkit has a CC-BY license, all external resources retain their original license. The toolkit is a collection of CS e-resources and usable via LibOCS website. The toolkit is divided in seven topics: The Basics of Citizen Science, Implementing Citizen Science in Libraries, Citizen Science Portals, Implementing Citizen Science Support Hub, Citizen Scientists and Volunteers, Training for Librarians, Guides and Toolkits. References with explanations are provided, so users are directed to scientific articles, blog posts, get acquainted with European policies and CS principles, watch videos, listen to podcasts, and learn on e-courses, study toolkits and guides. Materials have been chosen to help to learn about CS, they are rather practical and usable for gaining new skills and knowledge. It is the largest source of CS and OS related materials in one place and thus useful for anyone who wishes to start educating themselves. 5 original videos concerning citizen science and libraries, found at https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLN26BhjyUibid_mWbSms7vDQQR01n3heJ&feature=share Project partners created a series of new videos focusing on citizen science, videos are part of the Toolkit for librarians (PR6A2). Video “Beyond the Shelves: Embarking on Citizen Science with Your Library” is made by UT librarians and gives an overview of libraries' role and universities' role in citizen science. Video “Citizen science for librarians” made by KTU librarians explains and introduces a self-paced e-course about citizen science for librarians. Video “E-platforms for Citizen Science” made by UL librarians gives examples of portals and citizen science databases where to find projects, where to restore data and why it is good to use common infrastructure. Video “Involving Volunteers in Citizen Science: Tips for Researchers” made by TalTech librarians gives examples of volunteer involving methods. 5 tips on how to involve citizens to the project are illustrated with good examples of already finished projects and their good practice. Also examples of citizen science hubs from European universities are given. Video “What is BESPOC” made by VDU librarians introduces BESPOC model as one opportunity to create a support centre for citizen science activities in the university or in the library. PR6A3 – LibOCS project Zenodo collection, found at https://zenodo.org/communities/libocs/records?q=&l=list&p=1&s=10&sort=newest All project results, publications, and reports of multiplier events are deposited on Zenodo, for everyone to use. It is a collection of project results, gathered to the LibOCS Community in Zenodo repository. Includes different reports, articles, slides, videos and posters in one location to get an overview of the project’s content and its results, the lessons learned and publications written based on new knowledge and skills gained during the LibOCS project. A valuable source of information, especially regarding the situation of CS in the Baltic states.