1981 Reports

Librarians: Potential Hazards of Library Work

Women's Occupational Health Resource Center

Fact sheet on heath risks for librarians produced by the Women’s Occupational Health Resource Center (WOHRC). The WOHRC (1979-1987) was a research and training program devoted to identifying and better understanding hazards faced by women workers. WOHRC was housed in Columbia’s School of Public Health and directed by Professor Jeanne Mager Stellman. WOHRC was a designated OSHA New Directions Training program, and also received support from other federal and private agencies. As a New Directions project, WOHRC trained thousands of workers and professionals in hazard recognition and accident and illness prevention for women workers. In order to carry out its public health programs, WOHRC developed and disseminated original educational materials. The materials were designed to be authoritative while at the same time accessible to non-professional users (e.g. the workers). WOHRC published a monthly newsletter that contained a “fact sheet” focusing on a particular job or a particular hazard. The fact sheets were also made available individually or collected into “fact packs” of related materials.