Library patrons can check out books, but they can't check out the models in the Sports Illustrated annual swimsuit issue.

A spokesman for the magazine said yesterday that the Time Warner publication this year withheld the risque edition from libraries and schools after catching heat in previous years.

The magazine decided not to send the issue to an entire group of subscribers that included schools and libraries.

"Everybody's furious," said Lynne Weaver, the serials coordinator at the library for Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Virginia.

Although the school's female-only population isn't exactly the issue's target audience, Weaver said the matter should be decided by school officials.