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A memorial service was held on Sept. 19 for George P. D’Elia, professor of library and information studies, Graduate School of Education, who died Sept. 16 in Buffalo Hospice after a long illness. He was 66.
D’Elia joined the faculty of what was then the UB School of Library and Information Studies in 1995. His research and teaching focused on the identification and understanding of the information needs of library users, the design of information systems and services to meet these needs and the evaluation of these systems and services, and the Internet-public library relationship. He was an expert on using the quantitative method to shed light on these areas, which he did through a number of funded projects.
He also worked as a consultant with 36 public library systems, assisting them with community-needs assessment, strategic planning, service delivery, marketing and staff development.
D’Elia and his UB colleagues Joseph Woelfel and Corinne Jörgensen received the Jesse H. Shera Award for Distinguished Public Research from the Library Research Round Table of the American Library Association for their study “The Impact of the Internet on Public Library Use,” which was published in the Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology in 2002.
“George was a caring adviser and a beloved teacher who guided students to think,” said Dagobert Soergel, professor and chair of the Department of Library and Information Studies. “His research and working with the students were a big part of his life. He also was ever ready with thoughtful advice to his colleagues, and was a mainstay of the department. We mourn his loss.”
D’Elia began his academic career at the School of Information Studies at University of Syracuse, where he taught from 1973 to 1976. He joined the faculty of the University of Minnesota library school in 1979 and directed the school from 1982 until its closing in 1985. From 1985 to 1995, he taught in the Department of Information and Decision Sciences in the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management.
He attended Rutgers University, from which he received a BA in history 1966, an MLS in 1967 and PhD in library and information studies in 1975. He also earned an MS in statistics from Syracuse University in 1977.
The UB Department of Information and Library Studies will establish the George D’Elia Scholarship Fund in D’Elia’s memory. Contributions can be made to the fund through the UB Foundation, 534 Baldy Hall, Buffalo, NY, 14260-1020. Memorial gifts also may be made in his name to CARE Inc. or to the charity of your choice.
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