Palatine library reopens after being declared bedbug free
The Palatine Main Library reopened to the public Friday morning after the Wednesday evening discovery of two dead bedbugs closed the 90,000-square-foot building.
A team of professionals, including Odie the beagle, a certified bug-sniffing dog, was brought in to search the entire building and verify it was bug-free, according to a statement on the library's website.
Melissa Gardner, assistant director for public services, got to walk with Odie and his handler as they inspected the building.
"(Odie) was all serious; we weren't allowed to do the normal 'what a nice doggy' thing to him," Gardner said. "When he was finished, the handler gave him the command that he was done and he snapped into dog mode and we got to pet him."
The library was declared bug-free after the search. No bedbug larva or eggs were found.
The dead bedbugs were found on a chair in the library's digital media center, a room with four computer stations and two green screens for filming and recording. Gardner said the library threw away the chair that the dead bedbugs were found on, but other than that, the library is physically unchanged from before the bedbugs were found.
Library Director Anthony Auston said Thursday that and inspectors believe the bugs fell off an exposed patron.
The library's staff will be trained to identify bedbugs at each stage of their life cycle and appropriately contain and prevent any future incidents.
"We feel confident that our comprehensive course of action has addressed the immediate issue with these two bugs, and has quickly prepared our team to respond to any potential concerns going forward," Auston said in the statement.
The library is located at 700 N. North Court in Palatine.