LIBER Digital Skills Working Group: Case Studies on Open Science Skilling and Training Initiatives in Europe

Open Science skills for both research librarians and researchers are at the center of all evolutions towards “openness”. The Digital Skills for Library staff and Researchers LIBER Working Group conducted a selection process in 2018 in order to identify Open Science training programmes relying on skills identification.

In April 2019, questionnaires were sent to contacts in 28 countries, and complementary interviews were conducted for the production of country-specific case studies on Open Science skilling and training initiatives in Europe.

The first results of this combined approach have been presented at LIBER's 2019 Annual Conference, in a workshop entitled Open Science Essentials: Towards a Skill Set and Showcases at LIBER 2019. The creation of case studies is ongoing and will be followed by a full analysis in 2020.

The objective of this activity is to offer the research library community inspiring methods, practices, contacts and words of wisdom, covering institutional cases, national initiatives as well as European project approaches.

Overall, LIBER's Digital Skills Working Group aims to spread a more open culture and to position libraries as key-partners in skills training for the complex and forward-thinking concept of Open Science. This project displays the richness and diversity of European approaches towards Open Science skilling and training in both libraries and researchers’ communities, from mature programmes to emerging initiatives.