At a public library, the stories you get are usually the ones you check out, but at the Minot-Sleeper Library in Bristol, New Hampshire, the bigger story is about what one resident brought in.
"They were bedbugs, unfortunately," said Rosemary D'Arcy, the chairman of the library's board of trustees.
Bedbugs from someone's home hitched a ride on a stack of books and DVDs that were returned to the library last week.
"It did give me the creepy crawlies," said Bristol resident and library patron Patricia Albert. "You expect it in the big cities, not around here, so it was kind of a shock."
Library staff noticed the tiny insects and soon after closed the doors to the public.
"I babysit a little one and we come every Monday like clockwork, and she was devastated," Albert said.
An exterminator came in and determined there were no more bugs other than the ones in the returned books. After being closed for four days, the library reopened to residents on Tuesday.
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"I can reassure them the building and all the books are perfectly safe," D'Arcy said.
Library trustees say there have been no reports of any secondary infestations, allowing residents to close the book on this chapter in the library’s history.
"The staff here goes above and beyond, so you know when they said it was cleaned, it was cleaned," Albert said. "I know there are no problems."
Town health officer Christina Goodwin tells NBC10 Boston she is working with the resident who brought in the infested books. She says that person has been ordered to stay away from the library until the situation at home is remediated.
