The inauguration of Barack Obama as U.S. president lifted newspaper sales Wednesday, as readers bought copies, many times more than one, as a reminder that sometimes, only print will do.

Readers told The Associated Press the newspapers would serve as important keepsakes, saying they planned to put them in scrapbooks, tuck them away in safe places, frame them or send copies to family and friends.

Many newspapers had to do extra print runs to meet demands on election day in November, but this time they were ready, already having printed extra copies, and sometimes special editions, for inauguration day.

Although demand wasn't as high as the day after election day, newspapers across the United States sold more newspapers than usual.

USA Today printed 700,000 more copies than usual, to total 3 million copies, and The Washington Times sold 286,000 papers Tuesday - three times the amount it usually sells, according to the AP. The Washington Post, meanwhile, had a print run of 1.8 million Wednesday (average daily sales are 600,000 copies), and estimates it sold 95 percent of the 1.55 million copies it printed Tuesday, include an extra edition printed in the afternoon.