"Most of the people here knew about the cameraswhen they were being put into place," a Widenercirculation official said. "Word spread prettyquickly."
Police officers who watched the videotapes fromthe camera said they saw students waving, pointingand smiling at the lenses.
"If they knew, then it is entirely possiblethat who ever did it knew they were up there,too," one officer said.
"More people knew about it than would have beenideal," acknowledged David Muir, of WidenerLibrary security.
Dowler said the recording equipment, which wasturned off two weeks ago, will be stored untilthey are needed again.
However, the ceiling-mounted cameras willremain in place after being disconnected, as willone of those concealed in a set of books, Fennellysaid.
"The cameras will ultimately be useful in thefuture," Dowler said. "The equipment won't beuseless, but we have nothing specific in mindright now."
Bizarre Case
The strange case has stumped police officialssince the destroyed books were first discovered inApril, 1990.
According to police sources, the state policeand the FBI were also involved in theinvestigation.
The criminal used a knife and his hands to ripout the insides of hundreds of books, libraryofficials said.
The slasher then put the empty covers back onthe shelf. The tornout pages were never found,police said.
The slasher, who focused the attacks on thechurch history and linguistics sections, leftnotes in Widener threatening violence if anyonetried to stop him.
"I will not stop until the voices tell me tostop," said one note, according to a librarycirculation official.
"The whole thing was very strange. The way thecrimes were committed it was as if he was baitingus to catch him," said Dowler.
A top-level library official, who spoke on thecondition of anonymity, said the cunning of theslasher also made the case more difficult tocrack.
"Not just anyone can get into the stacks," theofficial said. "It was probably a member of theHarvard community, and with that comes a certainpresumption of their intellect. Add that to thevastness of the library, and the case is a hardone to solve."
Dowler said officials are currently discussingtighter security for Widener and Pusey Libraries.Options under consideration include an electric IDcard scanner and a security checkpoint at thelibrary entrance.
Despite the lack of progress, Fennelly said thepolice have not given up on the case.
"We will continue this investigation until theday I die," he said.