Large numbers of participants attending the event demonstrated that there is great interest in citizen science, a concept playing an increasingly significant role in the research environment. Beate Guba, director of TU Wien Bibliothek, gave an introductory keynote speech.
Participants in the panel discussion were Dilek Fraisl of Novel Data Ecosystems for Sustainability (NODES) at IIASA, Katja Mayer of the Department of Science and Technology Studies, University of Vienna, Fabian Dembski from TU Wien & Tallinn University of Technology, and Christian Peer of the future.lab - Research Center, TU Wien. Charlotte Reiff of TU Wien Bibliothek’s service unit Networking and Innovation moderated the stimulating discussion on various aspects of citizen science and its potential for the sustainability transformation.
The importance of scientific libraries to citizen science lies in their role as mediators between researchers and the general public. Libraries not only fulfil the role of a knowledge store, but are also a central point of access to information and resources.