The desk where the books were placed and anywhere the books made contact were cleaned with alcohol, which kills the bug as well as any eggs, she said. 21, according to Lane Memorial Library director Amanda Reynolds Cooper, and have since been thrown out. The bed bugs were discovered while library staff were checking books returned Sept. Remember: even though it may be embarrassing to admit to another person that you have a bug problem in your home, being proactive helps keep your library clear of pests.HAMPTON - Library trustees are weighing whether people returning books with bed bugs inside their pages should be temporarily banned after the vermin turned up at the return desk last month.

Some institutions may ask you to seal the items in airtight bags yourself and return them as normal, while others may wish to coordinate a face-to-face pickup, so that the items may be evaluated and quarantined A.S.A.P. If you believe you have a bed bug problem, call your library to ask about how and when you should plan to return your books and other items. It's worthwhile to note, however, that extreme temperatures will not remove histamine-rich, bed bug feces, so you may still want to educate yourself on how to spot bed bug damage in library books, via this. Proper quarantine procedure for library items involves placing damaged items in sealed Ziploc bags and/or airtight bins, and heating or chilling the items to kill bed bugs and their eggs. The Public Library Association has made a webinar, Don't Let the Bed Bugs Bite: Prevention and Treatment in Public Libraries, available on-demand to library staff.

Thankfully, libraries have myriad resources to help them deal with this issue. She adds that, in her opinion, 'the library carries the greatest risk because books and items get returned from all sorts of residences and situations,' and bed bugs can infest the building itself, moving from books into furniture.

Jody Green says that 'books infested with bed bugs or even cockroaches are so badly soiled and damaged they cannot go back out in circulation,' so the books that would put library patrons at risk of bringing bed bugs into their homes are removed from the collection as soon as they are returned. Mars and Ballenger assure me that, even though 'bed bug infestations happen, don't worry about it when at a library.' Entomologists Joanie Mars and Joe Ballenger delivered the somewhat disconcerting news that 'ed bugs can live about 5 months without food. How much of a problem are bed bugs in library books, really? I contacted Ask an Entomologist to find out whether readers should worry about picking up a bed bug infestation from the books they bring home from the library. There's no real indication that people who have or have had bed beg trouble are in danger, but the researchers note that 'the implications of being exposed to chronic airborne histamine are unclear.' Histamines are also responsible for asthma attacks, which gave researchers at North Carolina State University pause when they learned that bed bug-infested homes had histamine levels of up to 20 times more than non-infested homes. Bed bug feces contains histamines: chemicals that tell your immune system to root out a threat by triggering the sneezing, runny nose, and itchy, watery eyes that you get whenever you have an allergic reaction. Some people have bed bug allergies, but it turns out that those tiny terrors can actually exacerbate existing sinus woes. Your bed provides the insects with lots of nooks and crannies to move around in, and you offer up their dinner - human blood - every time you go to sleep. Most people have heard the old saying, Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite, but what is a bed bug, exactly? Bed bugs are tiny parasites that thrive in warm climates with places to hide, like the inside of your home. I've got some tips you can use to avoid bringing bed bugs into your home through your library checkouts. Curling up with a book hasn't been this frightening since the first time you read The Shining. It turns out that you can get bed bugs from library books. I have some unfortunate news, book nerds.

Bed bugs in library books