CeOS_SE project partners from the Learning Resource Centre – “Stelios Ioannou” Library at the University of Cyprus recently organized a webinar – “Active citizenship: The role of librarians in citizen science”. The event took place on the 25th of October 2022, and was attended by 60 participants keen to learn about the crucial role libraries have in the mainstreaming of citizen science activities.
The webinar’s purpose was to highlight librarians’ role in fostering research and open science, focusing on libraries as hubs of active citizenship enhancement in their communities. Participants discussed and explored forms of collective action and citizen engagement to promote open science – otherwise known citizen science.
Within this interactive workshop, there was a discussion on the opportunities for raising citizen awareness and encouraging citizens to actively participate in solving issues of a local and international scale (i.e. social inequalities, climate change and biodiversity loss).
The role of librarians was central to this discussion, as they are the connecting link between citizens, researchers and civil society actors.
The event was held during the International Open Access Week 2022. The presenters Katerina Zourou and Stefania Oikonomou (Web2Learn) informed and inspired the participating librarians and introduced them in an interactive way to the topic of citizen science.
