March 7, 2001

Students gather at memorial in front of Santana High School in Santee, Calif, day after shooting spree by 15-year-old Charles Andrew Williams in which two students died and 13 people were injured; students, residents and authorites struggle to understand how high-school freshman could have done what he did, and why no one seemed to have believed his threats; Williams is described as skinny kid, new in town, who was often picked on, but was also funny and fond of pranks; photos (M)

Royal Ahold NV, large European food retailer, says fourth-quarter net income jumped 56 percent to 370 million Euros ($344 million) (S)

Public library system in Queens, New York City, is at forefront of major shift at libraries across the country away from stictly scholarly pursuits toward functions once associated with community centers, religious and business organizations and even community colleges; as libraries undergo extensive changes to cope with competition from mega-bookstores, Internet and digital age, they are finding ways to become more essential in neighborhoods they serve; national library officials say none is doing it more imaginatively than Queens system, in large part because borough's ever-changing immigrant constiutency has forced branches to stay relevant or become obsolete; new libraries in system typically include large spaces not intended for books, but rather for meetings, classes and performances; more than 500,000 people participated in 30,000 programs at Queens libraries last year, with offerings ranging from exercise classes for older adults to jewelry making for teenagers; photo (M)

Seton Hall basketball team will meet St John's in Big East tournament game, in what is seen as clash of also-rans (M)

Hyundai Engineering and Construction Company's creditors agree to guarantee $400 million of contractor's foreign debt to help company, Korea's largest builder, stay in business (S)