The transparency of CSUC member university libraries
| Published date | 11 November 2019 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/LM-02-2018-0008 |
| Pages | 558-569 |
| Date | 11 November 2019 |
| Author | Carina Rey Martin,Concepción Rodriguez Parada,Enric Camón Luis |
The transparency of CSUC
member university libraries
Carina Rey Martin and Concepción Rodriguez Parada
Departament de Biblioteconomia, Documentació i Comunicació Audiovisual,
University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain, and
Enric Camón Luis
Escola Superior de Ciències Socials i de l'Empresa,
Tecnocampus-Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Mataró, Spain
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to analyse the level of transparency of the libraries of Catalan
universities that are members of the Consortium of University Services of Catalonia (CSUC).
Design/methodology/approach –The analysis involved reviewing the information available on the
websites of the ten libraries belonging to CSUC. For each library’s website, the presence of 18 indicators was
explored. These indicators had been defined by the Commitment and Transparency Foundation (Spain).
Findings –There is a notable difference between the level of transparency of Catalan universities and their
libraries. Moreover, the universities’culture of transparency is not reflected in that of the libraries. Four of the
libraries can be considered transparent because they have accomplished from 12 to 18 indicators; three can
be considered “translucent”, due to their indicators ranging from 11 to 7 points; and three are considered
opaque as a result of obtaining from 1 to 5 indicators.
Practical implications –There is a need to review the volume and quality of information that can be
consulted on library websites, considering that all services and entities funded with public money must
inform citizens of the principles that govern their management and the results obtained.
Originality/value –The information regarding transparency is incomplete and should be organised with
parameters that make it easier to find. Libraries that occupy the lowest positions in the ranking all belong to
private universities. Their poor results are due to the lack of information justifying their management or
providing information on how the service is organised. Some conclusions of this study are very similar to
those of the study on Madrid’s Madroño Consortium (Pacios Lozano, 2016) which has been taken into account
in this paper.
Keywords University libraries, Websites, Transparency, Indicators,
Consortium of University Service of Catalonia (CSUC), Libraries management
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
The entry into force in Catalonia of Act 19/2014, of 29 December, on transparency, access
to public information and good governance obliges the various levels of government to
“inform citizens, in accordance with the principle of responsibility, of their activity and of
the management of public resources”. As stated in the preamble of the act, transparency,
access to public information and good governance are three key factors for assessing the
operation and democratic quality of government. Specifically, the government must
report actively on “its organisation, operation, major decisions and management of public
resources”so that these can be evaluated by citizens. Management transparency is
inextricably linked to citizens’right to access information about this management.
However, transparency should go beyond merely meeting the established legal
requirements: it should become something more powerful and transformational. This will be
Library Management
Vol. 40 No. 8/9, 2019
pp. 558-569
Emerald Publishing Limited
0143-5124
DOI 10.1108/LM-02-2018-0008
Received 6 March 2018
Revised 22 February 2019
Accepted 4 March 2019
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0143-5124.htm
© Carina Rey Martin, Concepción Rodriguez Parada and Enric Camón Luis. Published by Emerald
PublishingLimited. This articleis published underthe Creative CommonsAttribution (CCBY 4.0) licence.
Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both
commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the origin al publication and
authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
558
LM
40,8/9
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