Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science (CCS) is an NLM and NIH priority area for NNLM. Through citizen science and crowdsourcing, NNLM can engage communities in addressing societal needs and accelerating biomedical science, technology, and innovation. Collaborations between communities and researchers build capacity to address problems and meet research goals. Community participation in the research process also builds trust between NNLM and the communities that we serve.

Engaging network members through CCS supports NLM’s FY2020 Congressional Justification, which states that NLM is "committed to encouraging citizen science as a way to provide opportunities for members of the community to work with NLM to improve and apply NLM products and services in novel ways" by creating a link between NLM researchers and the community.