Abstract

The Solar Eclipse Activities for Libraries (SEAL) Project, organized through the Space Science Institute in Boulder and funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, distributed six million solar-viewing glasses, solar eclipse information, and other resources, through more than 15,000 public libraries across the country and US territories.  Librarians were offered professional development and an online community, so they could provide effective programming and reliable information as they distributed the glasses and information packets and sheets to their patrons.  Some 49,000 library programs were organized for the two eclipses, often with the help of local professional or amateur astronomers, trained undergraduates, or local science teachers and their students. Over 200 solar science kits, which could be used long after the eclipses were over, were also distributed to each state library system for lending to local libraries.  If each pair of glasses was used by three people, the project reached some 18 million people with safe viewing tools and eclipse information, constituting the largest single outreach project for the two eclipses. Hundreds of science teachers and their students were also trained and mobilized, through the National Science Teaching Association, to act as eclipse resource agents in their communities.

1. Introduction and Background Information

In 2017, when the first solar eclipse in recent times crossed the U.S., we asked ourselves what existing institutions could help the very limited number of astronomers and eclipse enthusiasts get information (and solar-viewing glasses) out to the public most effectively – both about safe eclipse viewing and correct eclipse science. We realized that, when it came to ubiquitous institutions that were already in the information distribution “business” in their communities, nothing could beat public libraries.

There are libraries in every state and territory of the U.S. and library branches that extend into those urban and rural areas that don’t usually get a lot of science outreach devoted to them. Indeed, public libraries are among the most egalitarian service providers, and surveys show that people generally trust and use them far more than other civic institutions.

We didn’t have to start contacting each library from scratch, since NASA and NSF were already funding a project to bring science into libraries. It was coordinated by the Space Science Institute, a nonprofit in Boulder, Colorado, under the direction of Paul Dusenbery, its education chief. Paul was interested in an eclipse outreach project, but made it clear that they had no extra funds or staff, and that we would have to find a generous funder to make a new national outreach project work. This was especially true if we wanted to see the number of libraries involved increase significantly.

One key requirement was that the funder had to be able to cover the cost of the glasses and shipping, since most public libraries had limited funds, and probably wouldn’t be able to pay for eclipse-viewing materials -- something that was outside their traditional purview.

We soon thought of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, which had a strong interest in science and science education, and the kinds of resources where they could undertake a national project. Each of us had worked with a key staff member there before, and we approached them with the idea of a broad-based library outreach program. To our delight, they were interested, and our proposal was accepted.

For the August 2017 eclipse, we distributed about 2 million eclipse glasses (and information booklets) through some 7000 public libraries (Fraknoi et al., 2019) When we began thinking about the 2023 & 2024 solar eclipses, we went back to the Moore Foundation to see if they wanted to do such a national project again, but to reach even more libraries, especially those in underserved areas of the country. And, thankfully, they did!

In the meantime, Paul Dusenbery had retired, but Anne Holland, who had worked with us on the 2017 effort, took a leadership role at the Space Science Institute, gathering an energetic staff to help with training and communication for librarians, and with the coordination of the complex process of signing up, informing, and getting material to the thousands of libraries and eclipse outreach partners involved.

2. The SEAL Project

We called the program Solar Eclipse Activities for Libraries (SEAL). The project as ultimately funded (with two additional sums added later by the Foundation) was far more ambitious and extensive than anything we had tried in 2017.

Through their NASA@myLibrary program and their contacts with the American Library Association, the SSI staff was able to attract many new librarians for the 2023-24 solar eclipses. They attended library conferences and made information available through many publications read by librarians. There are approximately 17,000 public libraries in the U.S. (counting both central buildings and branch buildings) and we ultimately got about 15,000 of them involved in doing eclipse outreach work, a remarkable record (Figure 1).

Each library was able to order a package of eclipse glasses and was provided an electronic booklet of eclipse information and viewing tips that we wrote specifically for librarians and the public (Fraknoi & Schatz, 2023a) (Figure 2). The libraries received a few printed copies, but mostly they were given access to an on-line version, which they could print out, take excerpts from, or pass around in its electronic form. The last eight pages consisted of send-home sheets to share with patrons about each eclipse and how to view it safely – two sheets in English and two in Spanish. In some libraries, such as San Francisco, local staff translated the sheets into other languages; for example, Chinese.

Based on the reports received from the librarians, Holland and her staff estimate that these libraries held 49,000 library and community events around the two eclipses and handed out 6 million eclipse glasses and information sheets. About 5 million glasses were paid for by the Moore Foundation; another roughly 1 million were funded by the National Science Foundation, after its staff became impressed with the reach of our project.

From reports at previous eclipses, we estimate that on average each person who received a pair of safe-viewing glasses shared them with two other people (family members, co-workers, folks walking by). That means we were able to provide safe viewing of the eclipses for some 18 million people in the U.S. Based on reports to the AAS Eclipse Task Force, we believe this was the largest single project distributing glasses and information to the public for the two eclipses.

3. Work with State Library Systems

Each state and U.S. territory has a state-wide library system, which provides information, materials, and professional development to libraries in its state/territory. Part of the proposal to the Moore Foundation included SSI staff providing in-person workshops during the meeting of each state and territorial library system, providing training not just on eclipse science and safe viewing, but also on the basics of solar science. State library personnel would be trained on leading activities about the Sun, and on using solar observing telescopes. Each state received one or more kits of solar science activity materials and telescopes that could circulate to different libraries through the state system.

Remarkably, the SSI staff was able to do 78 state-wide or territory-wide training workshops, attended by more than 2100 library personnel. And the 200 kits they distributed will continue to be available to libraries long after memories of the eclipses begin to fade. Having solar science modules circulate will be of particular interest since 2024-25 is the predicted time of the solar maximum.

4. Outreach through the National Science Teaching Association

The National Science Teaching Association (NSTA) is the non-profit professional organization of science teachers, professors of science education, and science curriculum specialists in the U.S. One of us (Schatz) was the first professional astronomer to be elected President of NSTA and retired from that position just a few years before the 2023 eclipse. So, it was a good fit for us to propose to the Moore Foundation that we work actively with NSTA to supplement, and assist in, the work of the librarians.

In many communities, the local science teacher would be the eclipse expert to whom the school, the local media, and civic leaders would turn. Thus, we thought it important to make science teachers an important part of our national eclipse-outreach planning and of the proposal to the Moore Foundation.

Planning ahead, we were able to:

1. offer workshops about the eclipses at NSTA meetings,

2. write articles about the coming eclipses and how to prepare for them for the three K-12 NSTA journals -- Science and Children (Hurst et al. 2023), Science Scope (Fraknoi & Schatz, 2023b; Schatz & Fraknoi, 2023c), and The Science Teacher (Fraknoi & Schatz, 2023c; Schatz & Fraknoi, 2023d,); and

3. prepare and distribute a range of training materials for science teachers at different levels.

In particular, we developed a version of our eclipse information booklet aimed specifically at science teachers (Schatz & Fraknoi, 2023a) (Figure 3) and, with the help of NSTA astronomy staff member Flavio Mendez, we put together an eclipse resources page on the NSTA website that was prominently advertised to science teachers nationwide (https://www.nsta.org/eclipse).

We offered Web Seminars for NSTA members on understanding and doing outreach for the upcoming eclipses, and hundreds of teachers from across the country took part in these Seminars. As part of the discussions, we made sure they were familiar with the many resources the NSTA eclipse page had to offer. These included, among many others, a guide to connecting eclipse science to the humanities, such as fiction, film, art, etc. (see Fraknoi, 2022 and the paper elsewhere in this issue), and a collection of links to free activities on the Web about the Sun, the Moon, and eclipses.

One of the big problems schools experienced with the 2017 eclipse was that on, or close to, the day of the eclipse, long-planned school activities and observing programs were suddenly canceled by school administrators, who, often alarmed by overly dramatic news coverage, became nervous about insurance and liability issues if any of the students suffered eye damage. Therefore, this time we prepared a booklet that teachers could send to their administrator early, to explain the eclipses, methods of safe viewing, and the lack of eye injuries in recent eclipses that had been studied (Schatz & Fraknoi, 2023b).

Generous funding from the Moore Foundation also allowed us to recruit and train a cadre of over 300 NSTA/SSI Solar Eclipse (NSE) Partners. Their role was to actively assist their schools, libraries, and other community organizations in getting the public ready to experience the two eclipses. NSE Partners were mostly high-school physical science teachers, but a few came from middle-schools or were curriculum specialists. They received longer and more detailed training, that also focused on how they could reach audiences beyond their schools - particularly libraries.

We trained the NSE Partners (who were distributed around the country) through a number of Web Seminars offered through NSTA. We set up a special web forum for them to communicate with us and each other. The partners also received free copies of two eclipse-related books wrote for the 2017 eclipse: Solar Science: Exploring Sunspots, Seasons, Eclipses and More (Schatz & Fraknoi, 2016), a book of classroom activities, and When the Sun Goes Dark (Fraknoi & Schatz, 2016), an illustrated children’s book on eclipses.

We estimate that these teachers put on some 800-900 school and community programs before the second (total) eclipse happened. Some of the non-library community spaces where they did outreach included fairs, scout and other youth groups, Rotary Club meetings, civic events (like City Council meetings), and local television news shows. We were especially impressed with those teachers who enlisted and trained their own students to be community eclipse ambassadors.

High-school students, for example, would go into lower grades and give talks on eclipse science and safe eclipse viewing (Figure 4). Some also set up social media accounts to get peers outside their school the information that was needed. A few students in different towns became confident enough with the material to give talks to adults – at libraries, to school boards, to civic organizations, or even the media. We are sure these experiences will stay with the young people for a long time and give them added confidence in their abilities to navigate the adult world.

5. Training Eclipse Experts to Work with Libraries

In addition to the teachers we worked with through NSTA, we also did some training of astronomers, college-level educators, and informal science educators to prepare them to help their local libraries in person (or libraries in rural and other under-served locations via Zoom.) Approximately 150 of these experts were trained in Zoom workshops and they then did hundreds of library and community events.

Based on a sample of survey responses, each of these experts did anywhere from 1 to 30 outreach programs with libraries and other community organizations. One especially dedicated expert (Dr. Angela Speck) made sure she spoke at every one of the almost 30 branch libraries in her city, working with the central office to make sure libraries in underserved areas also received glasses and expert assistance.

To add more “eclipse experts” to our program, the Astronomical Society of the Pacific received a NASA grant to train hundreds of partner pairs, consisting of an amateur astronomer and a motivated undergraduate student in each community. In cases where they could not make such a match, they paired and trained two enthusiastic amateurs, or an undergraduate with an astronomy instructor. Many of these partner pairs selected local libraries as one of the key locations in which they helped with eclipse programs.

6. Eclipse Outreach via Other Venues

Since this was our second time doing eclipse outreach, we also thought about where else information had been missing or inadequate in 2017 and tried to find ways to help. For example, we knew that, when it came to our work with the schools, we had not done anything to help parents who home-school their children. This time, we worked with the editorial staff of Home-schooling Parent Magazine and got an article full of eclipse information and links to resources into their June 2023 issue.

To follow up on our concern about administrators shutting down eclipse viewing sessions in their districts (see above), we also wanted to get to administrators directly. We proposed to do an editorial for Education Week, a publication read by school administrators, and our proposal was accepted (see Schatz & Fraknoi, 2024). In addition, we provided a web seminar for members of the Council of State Science Supervisors (CSSS) to give them the information they needed to work with school district leaders in their states.

Overall, the two of us did 18 eclipse training presentations together, and individually we made a total of 75 presentations to organizations, librarians and their patrons, and the public at large. Among the places we spoke are the Smithsonian Institution, the Commonwealth Club of California, the CBS radio network, the Family Radio Network, the National Science Education Leadership Summit, the conference of the Association of Science & Technology Centers, and the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lecture Series.

A separate diary of our presentations and publication has been submitted as a contribution to this special issue of BAAS.

7. Conclusion

Through their STARNet program, with funding from NASA, the educational staff at SSI continues to work with libraries to get information and materials out to the public about NASA programs. Our project, and the other ones SSI is doing, demonstrate clearly the utility of libraries for wide-spread, and inclusive, dissemination of scientific information on topics that are of significant public interest. Although most librarians have relatively little training in science, they are enthusiastic about sharing scientific ideas and events with their patrons -- as long as it can be done in a widely accessible, non-technical way.

And librarians really appreciate the help of scientists and educators who are able to deliver such information in everyday language, and with a sensitivity to the educational level and vocabulary of their audience. Putting some effort into training educators and scientists to do this effectively (and confidently) can make a big difference in the success of such outreach events, and the impressions about science left behind in the minds of the participating public.

Many astronomy buffs believe that total eclipses of the Sun are the only kind of sky event that can garner so much public interest. (They do allow that a newly-discovered, large asteroid headed our way, and promising an extinction level impact event, might also be somewhat newsworthy!)

But we believe that scientists and science educators could interest and inform librarians, and, through them, the public, in a wide range of other scientific phenomena, discoveries, and insights. Among these might be:

• Solar storms and space weather associated with periods of high solar activity.

• Meteor showers that turn into “meteor storms” because the Earth is passing through, or close to, the debris from the comet that is the source of the meteors

• Rare events, such as new novae and supernovae, bright comets making their first appearance in the inner solar system, or bright fireballs, such as the one that happened near the Russian town of Chelyabinsk in 2013

• The initial discovery of a new type of astronomical object or phenomenon that catches the interest of the media (e.g. when the first gravity waves were observed by the LIGO observatories, when photos of Pluto were returned from the New Horizons spacecraft flyby soon after the demotion of Pluto as a planet, the discovery of Earth-like exoplanets in the habitable zone of another star, Moon missions involving human travelers, etc.)

But we needn’t limit our thinking to astronomical events. Other fields of science also involve events or discoveries that can generate public interest. These include:

• Dramatic weather events, such as hurricanes and tornadoes, heat domes, really bad air quality days, large glaciers detaching or melting, etc.

• Earthquakes and their aftermath

• Large wildfires and their consequences

• Chemical spills and oil spills, the clean-up efforts, and their effects on human endeavors

• Emerging diseases and pandemics

• Important new medical advances that really make a difference for large numbers of people.

The network of libraries we pulled together for eclipse outreach in 2023-24, could, with the right approach and adequate funding, serve as the backbone of many other science outreach projects and programs in the future. We hope that others will follow our lead and make libraries a regular part of how scientists communicate with the public.