Colleagues,
It is
my sad duty to inform you that our esteemed colleague George D’Elia passed away
yesterday after a long illness.
George
D’Elia, AB in History 1966, MLS 1967, PhD in LIS 1975, all Rutgers University,
MS in Statistics, Syracuse 1977, joined what is now the Department of Library
and Information Studies, Graduate School of Education, University at Buffalo in
1995. He started his academic career as an Assistant Professor at the
School of Information Studies, University of Syracuse (1973-1976), then joined
the Library School, University of Minnesota where he served as Director
1982-1985, and from 1985-1995 taught in the Information and Decision
Sciences Department, Carlson School of Management, University of
Minnesota. His research and teaching interests were 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 quantitative method, primarily
surveys, to shed light on these questions through a number of funded
projects. He also worked with 36 public library systems as a consultant
dealing with community needs assessment, strategic planning, service delivery,
marketing, and staff development. In 2003, George D’Elia, along with
co-investigators, Joseph Woelfel and Corine Jorgensen, were awarded the Jesse
H. Shera Award for Distinguished Public Research from the American Library Association’s
Library Research Round Table 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.
He was
a caring adviser and a beloved teacher who guided students to think. His
research and working with the students were a big part of his life. He
was ever ready with thoughtful advise to his colleagues. He was a
mainstay of the department. We mourn his loss.
The
department will establish the George D’Elia Scholarship Fund, contributions
should be made to the University at Buffalo Foundation, 534 Baldy Hall,
Buffalo, NY, 14260-1020.
From the Buffalo News Sept. 17, 2010
D'Elia
- George P. September 16, 2010, beloved husband of Bette Holtzman; devoted
father of Hannah and Elizabeth; dear brother of Anthony (Doreen) D'Elia and
Joan (Al) Knoll. A Memorial Service will be held at the Amherst Memorial
Chapel, 281 Dodge Rd, Sunday at 2 PM. Memorials in George's memory to CARE or
the charity of your choice.