Bookworm (insect)

[3] The term has come to have a second, idiomatic meaning of a bibliophile, who reads a great deal or to perceived excess: someone who devours books metaphorically.

The booklouse, also known as a paperlouse, is a soft-bodied, wingless insect in the order Psocoptera (usually Trogium pulsatorium), typically 1 mm or less in length.

Areas of archives, libraries, and museums that are cool, damp, dark, and generally undisturbed are common sites for such growth, generating a food source which subsequently attracts booklice.

[5] Of the quarter million species of beetles, some adults damage books by eating paper and binding materials themselves.

[3][12] Human awareness of bookworms dates back to the Middle Ages, when infested books were identified and burned.

[16] Pesticides can be used to protect books from these insects, but they are often made with harsh chemicals that make them an unattractive option.

Books can be stored at low temperatures that keep eggs from hatching, or placed in a deep-freezer to kill larvae and adults.

[15][17] Pseudoscorpions such as Chelifer cancroides may live in books and feed on book-eating insects, controlling their numbers.

[16] How to protect papyrus, paper (and later parchment) collections from bugs is a topic that already Aristotle was interested in and that kept librarians busy through the centuries.