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All, We're planning a renovation, and considering getting rid of our traditional security gates. It has proven exceptionally difficult to find space in the proposed floor plans for staff members to monitor the gates. We've always had just one gate, by the access services desk, but the new layout would require two gates, neither with a desk of any kind in view of it. We're not especially concerned about lost books. Most of our materials aren't especially valuable in and of themselves, and the rare materials are secured in a vault and not open to patron browsing. A study of our stats shows that only 4% of the alarms our existing gates give us involve actual library materials. The other 96% are false alarms, usually caused by cell phones seeking service while passing through the gates. What we *are* concerned about is technology and, to a lesser degree, art. We have some expensive bits of technology in public areas, and some moderately valuable artwork on display. Some of those are sufficiently small and portable as to be tempting targets for theft. How have you all dealt with this? Does your library still use security gates? If not, what steps have you taken to secure non-book items in your buildings? I'm interested to hear what you've come up with. Will Martin Head of Digital Initiatives, Systems & Services Chester Fritz Library University of North Dakota