‘Policy Options for Connecting and Enabling the Next Billion’ presents the main policy options proposed by the Dynamic Coalition on Public Access in Libraries (DC-PAL) to address the issues of access to internet infrastructure and access to knowledge on how to use the Internet infrastructure.

The document includes many useful examples of how libraries are contributing to expanding internet access and to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

The DC-PAL argues that while the stated goal of physically connecting the next billion can be achieved by using libraries as community hubs where people can access computers and the internet, libraries also contribute greatly to enabling the new users to benefit from the internet, through the skills and expertise of the librarians and information professionals who work there. 

The document was included as a submission to and extensively quoted in the IGF 2016 report titled Policy Options for Connecting and Enabling the Next Billion(s): Phase II.

EIFL is a founder member of the DC-PAL, which was formed in 2011 by EIFL and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) to engage the IGF community in discussion about the role and potential of public libraries in supporting the goal of universal access to the internet.