misseli writes “
This article from the San Jose Mercury News, by David L. Beck, opens with:
“Are you tough enough to be a Santa Cruz librarian?
Think twice before you answer. For the past six years, 76 workers’ compensation claims in the city-county library system amount to about $460,000 in medical bills, lost work time and other costs. There were 17 claims last year alone. That’s a far higher injury rate than other systems report.”
(No subscription necessary to read article)”
Injury-Prone in Santa Cruz
Must be a lot of Santa Cruz librarians slipping on banana slugs. But seriously, the article touches on a number of issues that will likely need to be addressed very soon in libraries. RFID is being touted as one good way to alleviate repetitive stress injuries, but this should not outweigh privacy concerns. Furthermore, RFID might help reduce injuries suffered by workers checking books in and out, but what about shelving and other injuries?
Perhaps the answer is not to look to RFID or other technologies to solve the problem, but to consider ways of restructuring work processes to insure they are less repetitious, physically *and* mentally, for library workers.