"We're very glad this disturbed individual has been caught," said Joe Wrinn, the acting director of the Harvard News Office. "We're glad it's over."

A Very Bad Apple'

"We've all spent an enormous amount of time, money, and effort trying to get this case solved and it finally has paid off," said Harvard College Librarian Richard De Gennaro. "I am absolutely delighted that we solved the case."

Despite Womack's arrest, De Gennaro said he doesn't think Harvard should require background checks for library employees.

"This person obviously has mental problems, and you don't make policy based on that," he said. "This is just one person who happened to be a very bad apple."

During his 18 months of employment, Womack "had free reign" in Widener, De Gennaro said.

"I am very relieved," Verba said. "We certainly had always been nervous about the fact that whoever was doing this seemed to have disappeared. We had never found out who it was and we remained nervous about that fact."

Neither police nor library officials could offer any explanation yesterday as to how Womack was able to take so many items out of Widener Library without being noticed by the entrance guards.

"I don't know how he was able to beat the system," Verba said. "It puzzled us way back then. I haven't heard an answer to that."

Johnson suggested that Womack may have known about the elaborate police surveillance system--including expensive closed-circuit TVs and video-recording equipment--set up in Widener in 1992 in an effort to stop the slashings.

Harvard spent more than $50,000 on the surveillance system between 1991 and 1992 in its effort to catch the slasher. The University police stationed officers in the Widener stacks 24 hours a day and required all students and faculty entering the stacks to sign in.

"There's no doubt in my mind that he was aware of the precautions we had set up," Johnson said yesterday.

De Gennaro said the suspect may have avoided detection by taking books from Widener piecemeal. "He probably took a book or two a day, and if you're careful you can get by our guards--you know that," De Gennaro said.

'Stakeouts' in the Stacks

The Harvard operation was initially criticized for its costliness and inability to turn up a suspect. Students joked about seeing officers on "stakeouts" in the stacks--not browsing the great literature on the shelves, but perusing a Boston Herald, coffee in hand.