Can public libraries become hubs for citizen science? In line with the principles of citizen science, this question was answered collaboratively with librarians from the Barcelona Network of Public Libraries who performed two hands-on activities. One activity was a training course taken by 30 librarians from 24 different libraries which enabled them to envisage citizen science implementation at each library. The other activity consisted of co-creating a citizen social science project and involved 40 library users, seven librarians from three different cities, and professional scientists. The analysis considers the perspectives of both librarians and users, through participant observation, surveys, and a focus group to identify strengths and challenges. The overall results suggest that public libraries can offer leadership in the promotion of citizen science and contribute to the mission of public libraries to act as local community hubs. The main challenges identified were related to the complexity of collaboration, uncertainty regarding research co-creation, and participant retention strategies.

公共图书馆能否成为公民科学的中心？根据公民科学的原则，该问题由巴塞罗那公共图书馆网络的图书馆员共同回答，他们进行了两次实践活动。一项活动是由来自 24 个不同图书馆的 30 名图书馆员参加的培训课程，使他们能够设想在每个图书馆实施公民科学。另一项活动包括共同创建一个公民社会科学项目，涉及 40 名图书馆用户、来自三个不同城市的七名图书馆员和专业科学家。该分析考虑了图书馆员和用户的观点，通过参与观察、调查和焦点小组来确定优势和挑战。总体结果表明，公共图书馆可以在促进公民科学方面发挥领导作用，并为公共图书馆作为当地社区中心的使命做出贡献。确定的主要挑战与合作的复杂性、研究共同创造的不确定性以及参与者保留策略有关。