The Speaking of Books service is inaugurated, providing community reading groups with multiple copies of titles and research material for book discussion leaders. Novelist E.L. Doctorow is honored with the 2nd annual Westport Library Award at the Booked for the Evening event. Membership in the Friends of the Westport Library tops 1,000. Six Rocket electronic readers are acquired for loan. They contain digitized books for adult, teen, middle school and elementary school readers. Library registers the Internet address, www.westportlibrary.org, changing it from the more cumbersome www.westport.lib.ct.us. The Library’s online catalog becomes Internet-based making it easier for patrons to use. Leonard Everett Fisher and Howard Munce receive the Friends of the Library Special Friend Award. New York Times Crossword Puzzle Editor Will Shortz agrees to conduct and supply unpublished puzzles for the Library’s first crossword puzzle contest.
