“Are Public Library Books Contaminated by Bacteria?”, 1994-10 ():
The microbial flora on the surfaces of 15 books obtained from a public library and from 15 books obtained from a family household were studied.
Staphylococcus epidermidis was recovered from 4 of the library books and 3 of the family household books. The number of organisms per page was between 1–4.
This data illustrates the safety of using library books, as they do not serve as a potential source of transmission of virulent bacteria.