April 26, 1984

-claims courts to the highest court in the land, the ranks of women on the bench have grown significantly in recent years. According to a Census Bureau report issued this month, women nearly tripled their share of the nation's judgeships between 1970 and 1980, the last year for which statistics are available. The proportion of female judges rose from 6 to 17 percent, the report said. Moreover, the gains by women are not only numerical. There is evidence that the influx of female judges is having an impact on how courts treat women, view issues and reach decisions.

His world is filled with alarm caused by the unexpected. A sudden move, an unfamiliar face, the squeal of a car's brakes; all can make the fear rise in his blood and turn a peaceful night into one of menacing shadows and sounds. He is a Libyan dissident student living in Manchester. For the last two months the dissident, who uses the pseudonym Saber, and hundreds of other Libyan students and exiles in Britain have lived in fear of the death squads they are convinced were sent here by Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi's Government to track them down and kill them. Since 1980 several opponents of the Qaddafi Government have been killed and dozens of others wounded by attacks mounted in Britain and elsewhere in Western Europe.

Long before planners and public officials began mapping their vision of a new Times Square, William Hollingsworth Whyte, camera in hand, was quietly figuring out what makes the urban environment tick - detail by detail. The proper proportions of a step, for example, became a matter of keen importance to him, leading to miles of film of people climbing into buildings and out of subway stations. At the Citicorp Center several years ago, his camera captured occasional skippers and prancers. At the average subway station, it recorded armies of groaners and winded souls. The main difference? The steps at Citicorp are 6 inches high and 12 inches wide - ideal, Mr. Whyte says. The steps in most subway stations are of slightly different proportions - 7 inches by 11 1/2 inches - and that can make all the difference when there are 27 steps in a staircase.

The Dellinger family of Stewartstown, Pa., used to shop for Christmas presents by driving 20 miles over rolling countryside, past orchards, corn and soybean fields, to the nearest department store. Last fall, however, they made some of their holiday purchases a bit early and bought a sewing machine and a stereo without leaving home, and without using a mail-order catalogue. They did their shopping by computer. ''It was exciting and it was fun,'' said Deborah Dellinger, who compared it to shopping by catalogue. ''You can sit down with a paper and pencil and get the same results, but it's more fun using the computer.''

The Board of Education's system of paying school employees for extra assignments and overtime work has been marked by overpayments and widespread abuse, according to an audit released yesterday by City Comptroller Harrison J. Goldin. The audit cited instances of school employees' receiving money for work they may not have done, of payments for ''work'' - the quotation marks are the audit's - done at home, of double billing and of thousands of employees working longer hours than allowed by the board's own regulations. The audit was begun long before the issue of what is known as per session pay came to public attention in the case of Anthony J. Alvarado, now under suspension as Schools Chancellor. His case touches on the issue of the per session payments he authorized as a district superintendent, but the subject is not cited in the misconduct charges filed against him by the board.