Abstract
Citizen science projects are widely recognized as contexts for a variety of informal science education outcomes. Much previous research on learning in citizen science has taken place in single-project contexts. However, learning is a highly individualized and contextual process that includes experiences beyond a project. We take a holistic, life-course view of learning to investigate the role facilitated citizen science experiences in public libraries play in the lifelong process of science socialization. Libraries provide a community-based context for lifelong STEM learning, and librarians offer unique insights thanks to their familiarity and deep understanding of their patrons’ experiences with their programs. Using a multiple case study approach involving interviews with nine public librarians in rural, suburban, and urban locations across the US, we adapted the five domains of socialization from Bixler et al.’s (2011) environmental socialization theory to explore how library-based facilitated citizen science programming supports access, accumulation of experiences, competency development, social support, and identity formation. Our findings validate the use of this framework in citizen science contexts and demonstrate that libraries are supporting all five domains of science socialization—most notably access, accumulation of experiences, and social support. This reinforces prior work indicating that facilitated citizen science has the potential to engage new and diverse audiences. Findings also highlight specific opportunities for libraries (and other facilitators) to better support the socialization process.