Since my original post, my awareness of public computer workstations has been heightened. I have since visited two libraries I have never visited before, and made sure to sit down in front of the computer at both.
The first one was the library at the graduate school I attend. This was my experience: I had three hours before class, so I decided to get in some internet time. At the end of one hour, my mousing hand was so deprived of circulation, that my fingers were stiff with cold. Not long after, my elbow began to ache, followed by a burning sensation in my wrist.
What was the problem? There was no pull-out tray for the keyboard and mouse. The keyboard and mouse were sitting on the table top of the station. So I found myself shrugging my shoulders up as far as I could in an attempt to make my forearms as parallel to the floor as possible. The chairs were wooden, and in no way adjustable, so I couldn't raise my chair in order to lower my shoulders. New problem! Do you know what happens when your shoulders stay up around your ears? You get a splitting headache! (Not to mention the aching rump from the hard wooden chair.)
Obviously, this was NOT a very ergonomic workstation for me. So after a little while, I moved to a station where the table top was lower, and there I fared much better.
The second library was a large public library, and had recently undergone extensive updates. The workstations there were somewhat closer to being universally ergonomic. The chairs were comfy, yet supportive. There was a keyboard tray. But alas, no vertically adjustable monitor, and no foot rest.
If the chair is vertically adjustable, though, does the monitor need to be? I don’t think so…but then that would disturb the ergonomics of the keyboard tray. And if keyboard height didn’t present a problem, what about the problem of dangling feet?
Hmmm. Maybe I’ve over-simplified the concept of universal ergonomics...
1 comment:
I work at a company where a good many jobs entail spending the majority of the day at a computer. The company does consider ergonomics in its work space designs and I appreciate their efforts as I spend most of my time on the computer - have for years - and have never experienced poor work station design health issues. The link in your first entry is a good guideline. I think it is great that the University of Texas libraries has such information available on their website. It would be too much information to post at public computer stations, but your idea of a poster would be suitable. I found a link to a Master’s thesis on the CUErgo (Cornell University Ergonomics Web) entitled, Ergonomic Interventions in a Library: An Evaluation Study. The summary page indicates that little attention has been paid to library ergonomics and the attention that has been given has been primarily to the users, not library employees themselves. The summary page contains 2 pictures of library employee work spaces with computers on desks. Neither looks as if the person responsible for setting up the work space knew anything about ergonomics. If libraries are to be concerned about ergonomics for library users, one would think they also need to be concerned about ergonomics for library employees. If they cannot provide an ergonomic work space for their employees, would we expect they could provide ergonomic work spaces for their patrons?
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