PETERSBURG Ernest Shaw has been using the public library downtown since long before he was allowed beyond the basement floor, which was reserved for blacks only. “There is history in this building,“ said Shaw, a retired sports radio announcer and newspaper writer who continues to visit the library six days a week.

On its 50th birthday, the Westover Hills Library is looking forward to getting rid of its gray while keeping its character. The city of Richmond’s second-oldest public library branch—having opened in July 1959 behind the Belmont branch, which opened three years previously—last night celebrated a half-century of book lending. Mayor Dwight C. Jones yesterday announced renovations to the modest brick structure, which has changed little over the years, earning the distinction of the city’s smallest library when Belmont expanded in 1965.

On her last day at Chimborazo Elementary School, Johnequea Whitaker cracked a big, wide smile. The graduating fifth-grader was getting what she wanted, and she was getting it delivered by a couple of global superstars. A little after 9 a.m.—just a few minutes after Johnequea wrapped up her first TV interview—tennis greats Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf strolled into the school in Richmond’s East End.

A Henrico County police robot disarmed a homemade bomb yesterday morning outside the Gayton library branch. Police were called about 8 a.m. to a parking lot outside the library, near the intersection of Pump and Gayton roads, after someone saw an expanding two-liter plastic soda bottle, said Henrico police Lt. Henry Smith. The library normally opens at 10 a.m. on Saturdays, according to a phone recording there.

A new $3 million library branch in Prince George County could open by the end of next year. The library, a branch of the Appomattox Regional Library System, would offer residents access to a collection of about 30,000 books, a small video collection and Wi-Fi. The facility would include at least 20 computer workstations and a meeting room that could accommodate 100 people. Plans for green space and benches outside the building and Wi-Fi access outside also are being considered.