A message to our valued patrons:
We are set to reopen our downtown branch on Thursday, March 5. We made the decision to close the branch on Wednesday, March 4 to treat the upper floor furniture for bed bugs. One bug was found late last night around closing time. Treatment (consisting of Temprid and RapidFreeze) generally only takes a few hours, but because vacating the premises for a few hours after pesticide treatment is recommended, we opted to close the building for the entire day. YDL has trained staff to identify bed bugs, as well as sound procedures for handling any sightings. We have a professional exterminator on call, as well as a team of trained bug sniffing dogs who inspect the building on a quarterly basis, including the library collection. No bed bugs have ever been found in the collection.
The library also closed the downtown branch in October 2019 after a bed bug sighting. All procedures were followed and no further bed bug evidence was found by either the pest control company or the team of dogs. While the library can completely eradicate any bugs, we cannot control members of the community who re-introduce them into the building. Should we have firm evidence of who those persons might be, then the library board’s bed bug policy will be implemented. (https://www.ypsilibrary.org/about/policies/bed-bug-policy/).
YDL will continue to follow our procedures for inspections and treatment, and trained staff are committed to executing our procedures and enforcing our policies to protect our patrons, materials, and facilities. For that reason, anyone with a bed bug issue at their residence is prohibited from entering any YDL location. Once a patron is able to provide the library with written proof that their residence has been treated, re-inspected, and that the bug infestation has been eradicated, library privileges will be restored. The documentation must come from a licensed pest control company or the patron’s landlord. It must list the address of the residence treated and provide contact information for additional follow-up if needed.
In the meantime, anyone who has concerns about bed bugs should visit the Washtenaw County Health Department web site for further information here or by calling them at 734-544-6700. It is important to remember that bed bugs do NOT transmit disease to humans.
Thank you for your understanding during this unfortunate occurrence. YDL is committed to maintaining a clean and safe environment and are happy that we can open again on March 5.