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There Might Be Bedbugs In Your Library Books
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Dec 6, 2012
Modified Dec 6, 2012
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By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Dec 6, 2012
Modified Dec 6, 2012
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It's been a while since we've slapped you with some horrifying bedbug news, so here's a little morning gift from us to you: those suckers are still everywhere, even in your library books. This scaremongering Times article declares that libraries across the country have fielded complaints from visitors who were bitten in chairs, or worse, brought bedbugs home with them in borrowed books. If there was ever a reason to kill off literacy!
Everyone's favorite parasitic night terrors just love crawling in and out of books left near beds in infested homes. There, they'll make a happy home, perhaps inside the spine of a hardcover, lay eggs, and travel back to the library undisturbed. So when someone else borrows the book, they're really bringing a little Bedbug Nation home with them.
Bugs have been reported in libraries in Los Angeles, Seattle, Long Island and Connecticut, among others. In New York, Our Fair City of Bedbug, there have been only a few scares. In 2010, bedbugs were reported at the Mid-Manhattan Public Library, though the NYPL insisted there was no infestation, and the Times says its 90 branches have only suffered from 10 confirmed bedbug cases (Pace University's library, on the other hand, was shut down briefly after a bedbug infestation last year).
And libraries have ways of dealing with infestations, like treating books in special bedbug heaters. But since bedbugs have allegedly usurped movie theaters, fancy gyms, schools, and like every clothing store ever, we're not too keen on taking chances just to snag a free copy of Fifty Shades Freed—maybe it's time to get a Kindle.
Tagged
bedbugs
gross
libraries
library books
manhattan
nypl
Rebecca Fishbein
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