Libraries stress safety

University Library officials are reminding their patrons that emergency phones are available in many facilities, in the wake of a thwarted attack in Alderman Library Sept. 13.

In that incident, a female first-year student reported she was grabbed around the waist by an unknown man, described as a white male in his late teens or early 20s, approximately 6 feet tall and 200 pounds, with brown hair. He was wearing cut-off denim shorts and a gray T-shirt with the word "Onehelluva" in black letters on the back.

Emergency phones, which connect directly to the circulation desk, are available on each floor of Alderman Library across from the elevator in the old and new stacks and on the back wall in the new stacks. In Clemons, free public phones are located next to the elevator on the second and third floors and near the restrooms on the fourth floor. In the Science and Engineering Library, an emergency phone is located on the bottom "book floor." All three libraries have emergency phones in their elevators.

In addition, students may check out cell phones from all three libraries that are programmed to dial only 911, for use while walking home.

U.Va. break-in

The University Relations Office reported that sometime between Sept. 20 and Sept. 21, 1999 someone broke into the Booker House on Madison Lane and stole $32,135 worth of computer, camera and other electronic equipment. Several interior offices within Booker House were burglarized.

If you have any information regarding this or any other incident, call the University Police Department at 924-7166.