Google to produce internet guide … in a leaflet

Google, one of the world's most prominent evangelists for all things digital, has turned to one of the most traditional of old media routes to try to persuade more British people to go online: it is printing a leaflet. The Simple Guide to the Internet is part of the search engine group's commitment to Race Online 2012, an initiative started by the UK government's digital inclusion champion, Martha Lane Fox. The co-founder of Lastminute.com and the entrepreneur behind a growing Lucky Voice karaoke bar empire hopes to get 10,000 British businesses and charities signed up to her campaign, which is designed to put everyone in the UK online by the end of 2012. Google's leaflet, which it intends to start distributing this year through libraries, charities and other public bodies that work with the digitally excluded, will give novices all the information they need to carry out basic online tasks, such as communicating with friends. It will not be used to push Google's own services. But its appearance is likely to raise a smile among old media executives as it proves that the product of dead trees can still be useful in this digital world.

Libri: Best Student Paper Award

Since 1950, through 60 volumes, Libri: International Journal of Libraries and Information Services has been a leader among scholarly journals in the international library world. As part of its strategy to remain one of the premier library journals, Libri is issuing a call for "Best Student Paper of 2010." This competition supports Libri's goal of publishing the best articles from the next generation of library and information science professionals. Students at all levels are invited to submit articles with clarity and authority. There is no stated theme. Research papers should address one of the significant issues facing today's librarians and information professionals. The article will be published in the 2010:4 issue. The author of the winning article will be honoured with an award of 500.00 € and with a complementary subscription to Libri for 2011. If the quality of competition warrants, some papers may be designated as honourable mention and the authors will receive complementary subscriptions to Libri for 2011. The normal provision to the author of e-prints applies to all winners. Manuscripts should be sent to the Libri Editorial Office, K. G. Saur Verlag, An Imprint of Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Mies-van-der-Rohe Straße 1, 80807 München, Germany. Electronic submissions are encouraged and may be submitted to libri@degruyter.com. Author instructions and further indications of the scope of papers suitable for publication in Libri are available at the Libri site at http://www.librijournal.org/authorinst.html