Keepsakes of the Obama inauguration

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The lines outside The Times’ Spring Street lobby are reminiscent of those on Nov. 5, when giddy crowds gathered to buy copies of the newspaper that recorded the historic election of Barack Obama as president. According to Times staffers arriving to work, people were lined up as early as 5:30 a.m. Director of customer relations Carole Stein says that when she got to the building, people were in lawn chairs outside awaiting the hour the lobby would open for sales of the Jan. 21 newspaper. In fact, sales started at 7, an hour earlier than planned, prompted by the enthusiasm and numbers of people seeking the paper and other mementos of yesterday’s inauguration.

An extra 250,000 copies were produced last night, and readers from around the country are calling to ask where they can buy today’s Times; supplies are being restocked at all store locations throughout the day.

In any case, more are on the way: The circulation department had churned out more than 100,000 additional copies, for a total of about 350,000 as of noon.

A note from communications director Nancy Sullivan explains how readers can get more copies: ‘Commemorative copies will be sold in The Times’ L.A. and O.C. office lobbies 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Jan. 22, along with commemorative merchandise’ that includes The Times’ Nov. 5 election editions.

A follow-up post on this journal will go behind the scenes in the newsroom to describe how editors, reporters and various desks coordinated the inaugural coverage that readers now seek in souvenir copies. Readers also can make purchases at the online store.