Public Library Administration: Transparency on the Website

The transparency of government information has garnered international attention in recent years and with it libraries' roles in facilitating that transparency. Public libraries are not only providers of information, including government information, but also public entities themselves. As such, how transparent are they regarding their own administrative activities? This study examined the websites of a large random sample of US public libraries in 2012 and 2015 to ascertain transparency through the availability of a number of administrative information items on the websites. Library size and location were used to determine whether these variables had an impact on the likelihood that library websites contained administrative information. The websites were also examined for change over time.