The 3rd Developing Citizen Science Masterclass for librarians was held on 8-9 April 2026 in Vienna, Austria. The event was kindly hosted by the Vienna University Library.
The Masterclass was organised by members of LIBER Citizen Science Working Group: Anne Kathrine Overgaard & Thomas Kaarsted (SDU), Susanne Blumsberger (Vienna University Library) and Dóra Kalydy (Library and Information Centre of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences). The in-person Masterclass was attended by 18 participants from 8 countries.
The 2026 Masterclass: Objectives and Outcomes
The aim of the Masterclass was to spread knowledge and experiences of research libraries’ work within establishing hubs, services, and infrastructures, as well as coupling this with research and societal impact.
The learning outcomes were to kickstart Citizen Science in research libraries. The participants were inspired by the experiences of librarian colleagues from diverse backgrounds, seeing the reasons and benefits for libraries as well.
Two researchers, Didone Frigerio, Privatdozentin & PhD, Department of Behavioural and Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, and Katja Mayer, Senior Postdoc, Department of Science and Technology Studies, University of Vienna, presented the advantages of Citizen Science research methodology based on their own experiences.
The Masterclass showed that all participants have been thinking about getting started and it helped them to focus on networks, internal and external stakeholders. It was clear that the ‘one size doesn’t fit all’ context for Citizen Science at research libraries was the basis for the Masterclass. It also highlights that challenges in both strategic and day-to-day operations would benefit from being addressed.
The Masterclass revealed the huge potential for onboarding research libraries to Citizen Science. In many ways, the event addressed the gap identified within Citizen-Enhanced Open Science in libraries (Kaarsted et al. 2023) by addressing barriers, strategy, commitment (or lack of), competencies (most already existing), partnerships, and change management, but there are more steps to be taken.
Towards the Next Masterclass
To develop Citizen Science in research libraries, organisers work on having a continuation of the Masterclass, including more case studies from different countries. As the Masterclass has a huge impact on the LIBER Citizen Science Working Group as well as the organisers, we are pleased to proceed with the Masterclass so that as many European research libraries as possible—where Citizen Science is less well known—can benefit from this opportunity.
The next ‘Developing Citizen Science Masterclass’ will be held in Spain, IE University, in March 2027. More on that will follow during autumn 2026.
Cover photo credit: University of Vienna, sourced via Circle U.
Related News