Harrington Eileen - Academic Libraries and Public Engagement with Science and Technology

Science literacy; Academic libraries; Science communication; STEM retention; Public understanding of science and technology; Community engagement

On a rainy April 22, 2017, between 70,000 and 100,000 people gathered in Washington, DC for the first March for Science ().

Even with this increased sense of hostility towards science, many still have confidence in scientists and scientific institutions and recognize their value in fostering the public good, boosting our economy, and promoting a democratic society. The sheer numbers of people who participated in the March for Science events around the world is concrete evidence of this. A 2014 survey conducted by the ).

Given these realities, this chapter provides an overview of the landscape of science literacy in the U.S., issues around retention in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields, public engagement with science research, and the roles that academic libraries can play in this arena. The following sections will touch on these areas, followed by an outline of the chapters that make up this book.

Various definitions of science literacy exist and debate still surrounds how best to measure it. Certain themes, however, emerge in many of the definitions. Earlier definitions tended to emphasize knowledge of basic scientific facts, and the way to counter science illiteracy was to expand teaching and testing on those basic facts of school-age children, as well as sharing information with the broader public (, p. 219). To achieve civic science literacy, a person needs to not only have a basic understanding of scientific concepts and processes, but also be able to apply them in decision-making and/or engagement with scientific issues or new technologies. A definition from a report by the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) combines many of these different strands:

Scientific literacy is the capacity to use scientific knowledge, to identify questions and to draw evidence-based conclusions in order to understand and help make decisions about the natural world and the changes made to it through human activity.

(, p. 133)

In this same report, the authors stress that scientific literacy should be viewed as a continuum rather than defining people as scientifically literate or not.

Given the various definitions of science literacy and an emphasis on civic science literacy in particular, many studies on the public understanding of science over the past few decades have focused not only on the facts of science but also measured an understanding of the scientific process and science in policy debates ( survey found differences by race and ethnicity, which mirrored past studies conducted by the National Science Board. On fact-based questions, Caucasians scored an average of 8.4 correct answers out of 12, versus 7.1 for Hispanics and 5.9 for African Americans. The authors suggest some reasons for these discrepancies could include differences in formal and informal educational opportunities throughout their lives and the underrepresentation of minorities in STEM fields.

The results of studies that measure basic science literacy are often not as clear-cut as they appear on the surface, and they can demonstrate the complex relationships between science, politics, and society. The level of someones scientific literacy does not always correlate with their views on certain scientific issues, scientists, or the scientific process. As adds support to this claim. She examined the differences in basic scientific knowledge among different generational cohorts, including pre-World War II, Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials. She found that many pseudoscience concepts, such as astrology and the belief that UFOs have visited Earth, showed greater appeal to more recent generations than older generations. This disputed her hypothesis that more recent generations have received more science education so would likely be more scientifically literate and reject pseudoscience beliefs. In addition, even though many of the instruments used to measure scientific literacy have moved to a more balanced approach, they still tend to focus heavily on particular facts. In different situations, such as policy decisions versus consumer health choices, people might need different kinds of knowledge, and these measures do not always reflect peoples understanding in these different situations. In many cases, people might be ignorant of certain scientific facts or processes, but that does not mean they are stupid. Many will possess critical thinking skills and other knowledge that they can apply when confronting scientific issues.