Advocacy and evidence for sustainable public computer access

Purpose – This paper aims to draw together the evidence‐based advocacy experience of five national programs focused on developing public access information and communications technologies (ICT) via public libraries as grantees of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's Global Libraries Initiative.Design/methodology/approach – The authors describe a common approach to strategic advocacy and to impact planning and assessment. They then outline the experience of each program in using a range of evidence to help meet specific advocacy objectives. They give particular attention to how each program is using specific evidence to convince key players of the importance of public access ICT provided by public libraries in meeting the objectives of the key players.Findings – This collective experience shows that when advocating at the national level, statistical data and empirical evidence can demonstrate that public libraries contribute to stakeholders' goals. Such data can include technology skills that users have g...