The Dangers of Serials Work

Despite the preconceptions people have about library workers and the quiet environment surrounded by books, dust and antiquarians, the reality for serials workers is much different. The reality of serials work is that it is fraught with dangers: paper cuts, envelope cuts, broken nails from trying to pry open the "easy open" plastic sheafs the journals arrive in, dry skin, the risk of tetanus when dealing with staples and the most dreaded of all -- microfiche cuts. Since microfiche is so much thinner than paper, it is sharp and does cut if you are rifling through a drawer's worth of fiche.