The Conceptual Basis of Popular Science Events in the Modern Library Space

Abstract

The article is devoted to the methodological analysis of the concept of “popular science event”. The study begins with a bibliometric analysis of publications from Russian Science Citation Index and scientific electronic library eLIBRARY.RU, selected by the search prescription “popular science event”. The main research method was the analysis of the flow of publications related to the thematic area “popular science events” from January 1, 2008 to September 14, 2023. A total of 75 relevant articles were selected for the research topic. Based on the general bibliometric indicators of the selection of publications on the topic of popular science events, conclusions were drawn about the local nature of the analyzed topic. The greatest interest in this topic was aroused by specialists in the field of pedagogy, cultural studies and economics. In general, this area of activity is now relevant, but it is not sufficiently developed in methodological terms. There is no definition of this concept in publications, however, due to the development of communicative practices in which the genre of popular science event is used, its introduction into the terminological range is required. Therefore, the next stage of the research is the operationalization of the concept under study. The greatest attention is paid to the analysis of publications from the field of library science. The dictionary articles devoted to the interpretation of the main component of the considered concept “event”, including the specific context of use — “library event”, are also regarded. Popular science events held in libraries have different goals, objectives, content and composition of participants. Depending on the content of the listed characteristics, such events become important for self-education of people and assistance to the scientific community in popularization of science.The article may be useful for specialists whose work is related to the organization of popular science events in libraries and popularization of scientific knowledge in general.