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Offers library science news in the United States. Speculation that Harvard University's Widener Library in Cambridge, Massachusetts will have to relocate; View of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on library Internet filters; Federal funds for the University of Southern California at Los Angeles to seismically retrofit its Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial Library; Others.

Presents information on the library-user survey created by the Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Library of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Considerations in designing the survey; Method of minimizing the cost of implementing the survey; Instructions given by the library's resident Statistical Package for the Social Sciences expert, on completing the survey.

Reports on the possibility that Charles Allaway, a former janitor who killed seven people at a California university library in 1976, may be released from a state mental hospital. Allaway's successful insanity defense after his killings at the California State University at Fullerton; The decision by state psychiatrists that he had regained his mental health and was fit for release; Judges' previous denials of parole; The concerns of the victim's families, that Allaway might be released.

The article reports that the firing of Brenda Biesterfeld, a library employee in the Tulare County Library in California, sparked controversy and the threat of a lawsuit. Biesterfeld defied her supervisor, Library Services Specialist Judi Hill, by alerting police to a patron viewing what she believed to be child pornography. She received a letter from Tulare County Librarian Brian Lewis dismissing her for unsatisfactory performance.

The article reports on the adoption by the authority board of the Sacramento Public Library in California of an Internet-use policy intended to balance the protection of children with the right of adult patrons to view potentially offensive materials. The new policy implemented on March 22, 2007, offers filtered access as a default, but unfiltered access can be requested on a per session basis, although patrons under age 17 must obtain parental consent.

Reports on the full-color books representing Dewey subject areas that were added to the bookshelves of the Public Library of Oakland, California in 2005. Amount of the state grant received by the library; Library patrons who will benefit from the pictograms.

Discusses events that occurred in libraries during 1917. Removal of all German-language books from the shelves of the San Francisco Public Library in California during World War I; Anti-German sentiments at public libraries across the U.S.; Publication by the Lebanon Public Library in Indiana during 1987 of a list of borrowers with overdue books; How events demonstrate that the library community's response to challenges against patron confidentiality have not been consistent.

Offers news briefs pertaining to libraries. Demand for Internet access in San Francisco Public Library in California; Prank at the Central Washington University library in Ellensburg; Design of a bed featured in the Hammacher Schlemmer catalog that has space for a collection of books.