Lawrence residents plan to tune in whenever and however they can Tuesday to witness Inauguration Day for President-elect Barack Obama.

Mikhail Ceesay, an aide for Kansas University Athletics Inc., is glad to have the day off, and he plans to watch as much television coverage as he can from his apartment.

“I think it’s important to actually know what your president is all about,” he said.

He wants to hear more about Obama’s approach to economic and foreign policy challenges after the new president takes the oath of office Tuesday. The swearing-in ceremony starts at 11 a.m. Lawrence time — but television coverage will begin far earlier.

Other Lawrence residents might not have the day off, so they will likely be tuning in however they can.

Kirsten Krug, the director of people and training for Amarr Garage Door Group in Lawrence, said she expected radios to be in use Tuesday at work as employees tune in to a broadcast of the events.

“Certainly people are excited,” Krug said.

Ed Quick, chairman of the Douglas County Democrats, said local residents appear to be excited because Douglas County strongly backed Obama, and some even helped with the campaign.

“That’s why a lot of people are interested, because it is a very historic thing, and they want to vicariously participate if they can’t go to Washington,” he said.

At area schools, teachers also plan to let students watch portions of the ceremonies.

Nancy DeGarmo, principal at New York School, 936 N.Y., said younger students will watch Obama take the oath of office. The older students will watch more of the speech and other coverage.

Teachers will also incorporate some of the events into topics the older students are learning about.