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Cognitive work analysis (CWA) is a method of understanding and documenting the constraints inherent in a work domain, irrespective of the actions undertaken within the work domain and the actors who undertake them. The keystone of CWA is the abstraction–decomposition space (ADS), which provides a constraint-based overview of the system. CWA has been successfully applied in a variety of settings to create tools that make the underlying goals and constraints of the system more apparent, and allow a worker the flexibility to perform his or her job in a manner appropriate to the current conditions, without being restricted to a particular task flow. In the current study, semistructured protocol analysis was conducted with six research librarians in order to create an ADS representing the information research work domain. The resulting ADS was reviewed with the participants, who confirmed its accuracy. Insight provided by the ADS regarding the work domain of research librarians is discussed, as are implications for tools to support information research.

Dana W. R. Boden is an associate professor, and has been a subject specialist liaison librarian for the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources and the Research and Extension Centers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for over 20 years. As liaison to five departments in the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, she received her B.S. from Western Kentucky University; M.S.L.S. from the University of Kentucky; and Ph.D. in Educational Administration from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Office automation as it is being introduced today aims “to automate office procedures”, as I.B.M. points out, not “merely to mechanize tasks”. It refers to the use of computer technology to process and transmit information, combining word and data processing. Automation also involves linking together today's many modern devices into “integrated office systems”. Because new technology is being developed to computerize the very flow of work in the office, its potential impact is qualitatively different from previous office equipment which “mechanized” or “automated” routine tasks.

Ergonomics refers to the complex relationship between workers and their work that permeates every aspect of the workplace. Originally defined in 1717 by Bernadino Ramazinni, an Italian physician credited as the founder of occupational medicine, it is only recently that ergonomics has attracted widespread attention. This article will illustrate that the increasing interest in ergonomics is warranted and that appropriate ergonomic management is a process that will have a significant, positive effect on a company′s profits through cost reduction, quality improvement, performance improvement and productivity enhancement. Derived from the Greek words ergo and nomos meaning “work” and “natural laws”, ergonomics literally means the laws of work.