Ergonomics for Library Employees

TechTeaching made an excellent point in his/her comment. Library employees can not be overlooked in this blog.

I found another great link on this very subject. It's from a U of M task force (for the Library Human Resources) that contends the chair and the table are the two most important elements of a computer workstation, ergonomically speaking. I love how three different chairs are compared here.

The other suggestion that stands out is having "on-screen reminders to take breaks" and stretch. Would it be too annoying to have your work interrupted every hour by a pop-up that instructs you to take a break? When I am focused on a task, any interruption upsets me...but sometimes it's just what I need to come up with fresh ideas. So I suppose a pop-up would be nice to have as long as you could disable it when you're on a strict deadline. But the stress of a deadline probably warrants frequent breaks.

I know a few U of M employees (some of them librarians), and have been told by these people that they were fitted for a workstation by an ergonomics professional. But I'm assuming most libraries (especially public ones) don't have quite the resources a major university has.
I admit I've never worked in a library, and have only briefly seen behind the scenes of a couple of libraries. Even with those two glimpses, I didn't get to see the computer workstations of the library employees. So bear with me while I assume that most libraries are probably not spending their limited budgets on ergonomics.

From what I have read, some companies are willing to listen to employee complaints and to make ergonomic adjustments to workstations. There is no law requiring such concession (as far as I'm aware), but studies show that ergonomics improve job performance and satisfaction, and reduce work related injuries.

So do libraries choose to spend money on ensuring patron comfort first, or on workplace health? I'd love to be a fly on the wall at such meetings. I can imagine the argument that without patrons, librarians would be out of a job, and to keep patrons coming requires up-to-date computer workstations. I can also imagine information professionals presenting the research showing how important ergonomics is. That would be an interesting debate!