Argh! Bedbugs found in library books

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I don’t go to the library anymore, at least not since I learned how to operate a computer.  My girlfriend, however, refuses to become a fan of Kindle, and visits the library on a regular basis.  Now, she has yet to read this story, so when she does the possibility exists that I might be shopping at Amazon for her Christmas present, but I doubt it.  Although she claims to be “risk averse” she can sometimes be reckless, but  what about you?  Will you be visiting the library as frequently now that the dreaded bedbug has taken up residence in the books?

Finally, a decent excuse to put off studying. Bedbugs were found in this Toronto research library. Courtesy of blogto.com.

Here’s the story summary from our Newserfriends:

Just when you thought you were safe from bedbugs as long as you never stay in a hotel, go shopping for clothes or to the movies, or, you know, work in an office … now it turns out you also must refrain from borrowing books. Yes, library books are the latest hiding spot for the pests, who apparently like to cozy up in the spines of hardcover books. As a result, libraries are increasingly tasking staff members with the enviable job of checking books for live bugs, carcasses, or excrement, the New York Times reports. If a book is suspicious, it’s sometimes treated with heat before being re-shelved.

And library couches and chairs are at risk too; a library in Kansas recently had to heat-treat all of its furniture and decontaminate hundreds of books after a patron said she got bit in a lounge chair. As the problem grows, more libraries are taking preventative measures like hiring bedbug-sniffing dogs regularly, buying dozens of “PackTite” or “ThermalStrike” heat treatment systems, or putting bedbug traps under furniture legs. How to avoid bringing bedbugs home with your books? An entomologist suggests only borrowing the less-popular ones bedbugs haven’t gotten to yet: “Maybe try old history books.”

It makes me sad. It’s kind of like going to the beach and seeing a shark next to you. – Nicole Gustas, a library patron who found a bedbug in her book and is reluctant to go back

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Professor Mike

Professor Mike is a left-leaning, dog loving, political junkie. He has written dozens of articles for Substack, Medium, Simily, and Tribel. Professor Mike has been published at Smerconish.com, among others. He is a strong proponent of the environment, and a passionate protector of animals. In addition he is a fierce anti-Trumper. Take a moment and share his work.
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11 years ago

Actually I don’t really frequent libraries, so much as check out a few books every so often and then keep on renewing them online far longer than is considerate to other patrons. That’s probably a bad habit, but maybe not so much now that I realize that every trip to the library presents a new risk for bedbugs.

P.S. This is the one type of thing that could actually get me to think twice about frequent train and air travel. In fact, I may just lock myself inside from now on…

11 years ago

My daughter-in-law frequents the library for her and my grandson. I will share this with her!

11 years ago

Library? Oh, I remember those. I used to go there a lot. In fact, I was the youngest person to have their own library card in my home town of Aurora, Indiana.

There was a limit on how many books you could take out at once and my mother was limited by have to get several for em. So she insisted they issue me my own card. I was five and had been reading since I was three.

I have never had a problem with bedbugs despite have read thousands of library books, even in bed.

Now, I have mostly electronic books, over 1,000 when I last checked. My elderly Mac Powerbook is my reader of choice. Someday, I’ll get a tablet when they become as capable as the laptop.

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