Electronic Administration and Transparency as an Object of Research in Librarianship and Information Science Studies in Spain

Abstract

Public administrations around the world have experienced notable advances thanks to the application of information and communication technologies to their different processes. Not only has this enabled them to better manage their internal processes (back-office) but also their external processes (front-office), including information and communication with citizens, thanks, among other applications, to the use of the world wide web. This study presents the results of research carried out on a sample of Spanish municipalities that have populations between 3001 and 5000 inhabitants – a total of 81 municipalities. The questionnaires of the six areas that Transparency International Spain had previously applied to large Spanish municipalities were used. The results show huge differences between municipalities of similar size and budget. It is argued that these differences may be due to a lack of political will and a resistance to change in a culture of public management that has traditionally moved in opacity.