Citizen participation in libraries. Methodologies, objectives, and levels of involvement
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3145/infonomy.26.029Keywords:
Libraries, Citizen participation, Community participation, Community engagement, Co-creation, Co-design, Participatory research, Citizen science, Social inclusion, Knowledge production, Learning, Public libraries, Academic libraries, Social innovation, Scoping reviewAbstract
Objective. The growing interest in participatory methodologies in cultural institutions calls for a systematic study of their application in libraries. This study seeks to identify and characterize the participatory methodologies employed in library contexts, as well as to analyze the main objectives pursued, the role attributed to libraries, and the intensity of participation promoted in the scientific literature. Methodology. A scoping review was conducted using the Web of Science Core Collection. The search strategy combined terms related to participation, community engagement, co-creation, co-design, participatory research, and citizen science with terms associated with libraries. The search retrieved 871 records, which underwent a semi-automatic cleaning process and manual validation to exclude false positives related to bibliographic databases and software libraries. The final corpus consisted of 382 documents. Participatory methodologies, objectives, library roles, and levels of participatory intensity were subsequently identified and analyzed. Results. Engagement-based approaches were the most frequently identified methodology (39.5%), followed by public or citizen participation (12.4%), participatory design (7.8%), and co-design (7.5%). The most common objectives were social inclusion (22.5%), knowledge production (20.8%), and learning and literacy (18.1%). Libraries were primarily conceptualized as learning spaces (37.7%) and community platforms (23.1%). Regarding participatory intensity, consultation and basic involvement approaches predominated (52.3%), although a substantial proportion of studies corresponded to co-creation or empowerment-oriented approaches (27.3%). Differences were also observed among library categories in terms of both objectives and levels of participation. Conclusions. The findings reveal an increasing diversification of participatory methodologies in library settings and reinforce the role of libraries as educational, community, and civic spaces. Although consultation-based approaches remain predominant, more intensive forms of participation associated with co-creation, citizen science, and other collaborative initiatives are gaining prominence in the library literature.
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