Below is a great article by Gordon Hoekstra of the Vancouver Sun that draws attention to an issue that libraries all over Canada are being forced to deal with – bedbugs. The Burnaby Public Library found bedbugs at their Metrotown branch. The library did a good job preventing a further spread of bedbugs by using heat treatment, disposing of the books found with bedbugs, and conducting a thorough cleaning.
The Burnaby Public Library’s Metrotown main branch has had an attack of bedbugs in its thriller-mystery section, causing the library to clear out several shelves for treatment.
A reader told library staff last week there was a dead bug in a book, which was immediately put in a plastic bag. The insect was identified as a bedbug.
Deb Thomas, the manager of the Bob Prittie Metrotown branch library, said a pest control company was hired, which used a sniffer dog to identify the area where a few more dead bedbugs were found.
The area has been treated by the pest control company, which steam-cleaned the shelves. The books that were removed are being heat-treated as a precautionary measure, said Thomas.
The library decided not to issue a general public alert because of the panic that could result over the bedbugs, which are annoying but not dangerous, said Thomas.
Instead, the library contacted a handful of readers of books in the hardcover thriller-mystery section, where the bedbugs appeared to have a taste for W.E.D. Griffin novels on the Second World War.
“Unfortunately, it’s something that libraries are beginning to have to deal with,” said Thomas, noting this is the first known incident of bedbugs at Burnaby Public Library.
Libraries in Canada and the U.S. have been exposed to bedbugs, including in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.
Jean Kavanagh, communications manager for the Vancouver Public Library, said the city’s public libraries have had some isolated cases of bedbugs, but only a few bugs at a time,
The library has a procedure for dealing with the bugs, which includes putting the book in a sealed bag and disposing of it. The occupational and health staff are notified, and if necessary, the area is cleaned, said Kavanagh.
Luckily, libraries are not great environments for bedbugs, as there are no warm bodies for them to feed on overnight, said Kavanagh.
The Vancouver Coastal Health Authority notes bedbugs are not associated with the transmission of human disease, but some people can have an allergic reaction to their bites.
Adult bedbugs – about the size and shape of an apple seed – are very resilient and can survive more than a year without feeding. The bedbugs prefer to hide close to where they feed and go back to the same hiding spot, according to information on Vancouver Coastal Health’s website.
The bugs will crawl more than 30 metres to obtain a blood meal.
To view the original article, click here.
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