The central Wichita library closed Thursday and will remain closed through at least Monday due to a discovery of bed bugs.
The bed bugs were sighted on a chair late Wednesday evening by a customer. And were found later in another location by inspectors.
The library will keep regular hours Friday and Saturday with lobby services, allowing customers to place holds, collect held items, register for library cards and pay fees. It will be closed on Sunday.
Wichita is not the first library to discover bed begs. Denver main branch library had bed bugs in 2009 and the Tulsa Central Library dealt with the bugs last month.
Cynthia Berner-Harris, Director of Libraries says library protocol and the experiences of their peers prepared them for the situation and they are going to take time to figure out the extent of the problem and the best treatment option
“I was very greatful that we had a continuity of operations plan which had information in place and we had a great staff team so that we could jump right in with the plan,” she says.
“Taking advantage of some of the lessons learned by our peers. And I think that has placed Wichita at a great advantage in terms of dealing with the situation.”
Berner-Harris says they have no reason to believe the matierials have been infected, and that they already check materials as they enter the library.
As a precaution tranfers from the central branch have been suspended.
Pest-control or any similar event was not in the budget.
Berner-Harris told reporters there are difficult decisions ahead.