Libraries. They’re bastions of knowledge, a playground for lovers of literature. That’s not all, though. A library can also be a breeding ground for legions of bedbugs. You escape into a novel, and an insect infestation escapes into your home.
Over the past few years, cases of bedbugs in library books have becoming more and more prevalent. It just might be enough to scare you off borrowed books for a while, if not for good. Many libraries have been taking preventative measures like keeping staff on the lookout for telltale signs, or setting up visits with bedbug-sniffing dogs. When libraries do find bedbugs, they tend to take a super proactive approach, baking or freezing the offending books until they’re clean. But there is always the risk—or the inevitability—that some could slip through.
While there’s definitely something nice about leafing through the physical pages of a physical book, there’s also something very nice about not being surrounded by bedbugs. Is this what it takes to make ebooks a better option? [New York Times]
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