Remember the fuss about librarians being more stressed than firepersons?  I
e-mailed the research company and their reply said that:
During the course of the research the data showed that, for librarians, the
key factors leading to stress were found to be; their physical environment,
the potential under-utilisation of their skills and how much control they
see themselves having over their role. The clear implication being that all
employers need to consider the requirements and expectations of a particular
role, and that how these are managed is an important factor in enhancing
well-being at work, whatever the occupation.
The research collected data from 44 librarians working in public libraries
as part of a wider sample of 292 individuals from 26 organisations across
five occupational groups. The authors are aware that there are many
different types of library and that those working within them exhibit a wide
range of skills and behaviours; we did not set out to attract, nor did we
claim, a representative sample that encompassed these different types of
librarian.

Rather begs the question - how can you draw sweeping conclusions on an
inadequate sample base and then actually get the research accepted as a
conference paper.  Tells you something about the quality of the papers
delivered at the Occupational Psychology Division of the British
Psychological Society (name and shame) doesn't it?

[I have left the list: just popped back to deliver this]

Mike Roddham

W Sussex Health Libraries