Bedbugs shut down kids section of C. Islip library

Bedbugs have temporarily closed the children's section of the Central Islip Public Library, its director said Friday.

Library director Paul Facchiano said three bedbugs were found on a chair behind the children's reference desk Tuesday at about 8 p.m., just before the library closed. Library staff killed the bugs and kept them on a strip of tape, he said.

An exterminator who was called in the following morning did not find any other bedbugs on staff, furniture or library materials, Facchiano said.

The exterminator "told us to treat the chair, but we're going to throw it out and also treat a perimeter around the chair," Facchiano said.

Facchiano also said he decided to treat the whole section as a precaution.

"When I told him we would treat the entire children's section, he thought it was perhaps a bit too much," Facchiano said, adding "we are a public building and I didn't want to take any chances."

He wanted to keep the rest of the building open, because patrons like high school and college students "rely on our materials" to finish assignments, he said.

Four rooms - a total of about 10,000 square feet - will be treated with a pesticide Saturday, Facchiano said, and the children's section will reopen on Monday morning.