MNN - Mother Nature Network

In "The Botany of Desire," author Michael Pollan submits that the apple tree, destined to immobility, figures out that by bearing sweet apples it can entice wandering fauna to spread its seeds and ensure its endurance as a species. Bedbugs seem to be employing a similar strategy. Wingless and with legs as tiny as Tinker Bell’s eyelashes, they can’t travel far. But by hitching on to the accouterments of human daily life, they get a quick ride from place to place, hopping off and establishing new colonies where once there were none. World domination doesn’t seem far behind.

 

At first we were warned to be wary of transporting freeloading bedbugs in our suitcases when traveling. Then vintage shopping at flea markets and thrift stores became cause for concern. Heaven forbid you should cart something home from a “free pile” somewhere. Some bedbugs with no lack of derring-do loiter in movie theaters and hitch rides to new horizons in the seams of slacks or the hem of a handbag.

 

And now they seem to have hatched an even more sinister plan: Relocation via library books.

 

According to a report in the New York Times, it appears that resourceful bedbugs are now clutching the spines of hardcover books, creating for a hospitable vehicle for the ride home. And with nearly 122,000 libraries in the United States, the opportunities are ample.

 

As Michael Potter, a professor of entomology at University of Kentucky in Lexington, told the Times, “There’s no question in past few years there are more and more reports of bedbugs showing up in libraries.”

 

Realizing that this could add a hard-to-reverse stigma upon the awesome institution of book lending, libraries are taking preventative measures to quell the trend before library goers are scared away forever.

 

Library staff members are being trained to spot carcasses and live insects. Vigorous vacuuming routines are being employed. Fabric upholstery is being replaced with leather or vinyl. And suspect books are being treated as well. The University of Washington Libraries in Seattle subjected bedbug infested books to a week of 18 degrees Fahrenheit in a freezer in the natural history museum. Other libraries use Ziploc bags and pesticides. Heat-treat boxes like the ThermalStrike or the the PackTite are being used to bake the bugs right in the books.

 

Steadfast borrowers are taking precautions as well. Some have their own personal PackTites, which were originally designed to heat-treat luggage. And many have learned to spot the tell-tale signs of the creepy crawlers. Some are switching to e-readers.

 

For others, the best approach may just be a return to borrowing droll history books and catching up on the lugubrious classics. Philip Koehler, a professor of entomology at the University of Florida in Gainesville says best-selling books are more likely to harbor bedbugs than others, given that they have such a quick turnover and see many more bedbug-ridden homes than less popular books do.

 

 

MNN tease photo of library: Shutterstock