Hit: aide duties part 2

[Susanne Ford-Croghan <crogan@SOVER.NET>]

        Here's some more--

I suggest you make up a list of your requirements for an aide and discuss
this with her.  If she doesn't like it then have a meeting with the
principal and her and go over the requirements.  It really makes me angry
with people think they are too good to do the requirements for a job.  I
simply say "I have my
masters and I still wash off lunch tables for student to eat on."    I have
recently acquired a school in which the librarian had that attitude.  The
people who worked with her say "she didn't do her job."  I don't want that
said about me.


If you are this person's supervisor, I suggest direct instruction as to her
duties, not hints.  If all you provide in the way of direction is hints, she
can choose to ignore it easily.

First, I would ask your principal if they have a job description for aides
in the district, and get a copy.  Also, see if they have job descriptions
per job title...i.e. library aide.  If they do, read them over, go over them
with the principal, and talk about possible changes you would like to make
and ask how to do so....if need be.  Get your principal on your side about
your having a chat with the aide about her responsibilities, when and how
you will (or who will?) be evaluating her, etc.  Then, sit down and directly
but politely point out how things will be different and go over the job
description, etc. with her.  Encourage her in her studies, but point out
thatyou are the librarian, and while her input can be considered, you are
running things.
Then, run things.
If you can't get the principal behind you, I suggest you request the data
above from head of personnel for the district.


Susanne,
I have the best aide in the world, so I can honestly say what I think an
aide should do.  You aide should be able to do the following tasks, freeing
you for the professional tasks of working with children, selection, etc.
Getting new materials shelf ready
Maintaining circulation statistics
Sending and collecting overdues
Shelving
Cleaning
Cleaning equipment (computers, tv's, VCR's, etc.)
Assisting with inventory
Checking in orders (informing you of any discrepancies)
ANYTHING ELSE YOU ASK HER TO DO.
As long as you also do some of the mundane tasks (cleaning, dusting), I
think she should also do whatever needs to be done to make the library run
more efficiently.


I don't ask my aide to do things I wouldn't do. Thus, we both get out the
dustcloths and table cleaner on occasion. She covers books, types spine
labels, processes textbooks, runs overdue lists, updates cataloging in
Follett when I give specific directions, helps students find information,
does most of the circulation, checks in magazines, and much more.


An AIDE should be doing the tasks that you have taught her and told her to
do. Anything else is basically insubordination and should be approached as
such. I would recommend developing which your principal, or presenting to
him, a job description.  It may be no more than a list of duties you expect
the aide to
perform along with general guidelines such as hours, treatment of students,
and availabilty.  When that list has been approached by the administration,
present it to the aide.  Failure, or refusal, to complie should be taken to
the principal for action.  You are the supervisor and must act like it --
not like a buddy.  The attitude of 'I can do your job' my just be the
beginning. With cut backs and her taking classes, you might consider she
knows something politically that is going on.


Is your aide paid or a volunteer?  And, does it matter whether she's paid or
a volenteer?  There are many, many jobs that have to be done in a library,
and if one works there, someone has to do them.
I have a B. A. (Hons.) in English Literature, and an M. Ed.. I teach
classes, plan and implement assignments with teachers, and yes, I dust, do
windows, check books in and out, re-shelve magazines and books when there's
no one else to do that job, assist students with OPAC, CD-ROM and Internet
seaching, repair books, barcode books, and anything else that needs to be
done when it needs to be done. That includes windexing the windows of my
office.  And no, I'm not compulsive about cleanliness.
Yes, there is a full-time clerk in this library, but this is one busy place
and if something has to be done, then whoever is available does it.  And
that includes this highly-educated, multi-degreed teacher-librarian.  This
is devoid of seasonal goodwill to others, but frankly, I have no sympathy
for your aide's attitude.  However, I wonder what has caused the change, as
you have indicated that things went well, so far.

Maybe you have to sit down with her and have a frank talk about what her
expectations of the job are.  If there is a formal job description, get it
out and link the things that need to be done with what's in the job
description.

One of the things that is not in anyone's job description is doing personal
research on work time.  And if she feels that she can do your job, when she
has the professional qualifications to do so, she can apply for a job. As
for her purchasing books when you were on mat. leave, was this of her own
initiative, or was she instructed by someone to do so?

I'm sorry about your difficulties -- I am also having difficulties with our
library clerk, but they are of another nature:  competence.
However, it seems to me, from what you have related, that your aide has
undergone some sort of change in attitude as to what constitutes her duties.
Whether or not she is paid, may have some impact as to how you can push your
case.




I have library aides in my library.  I make a list each each afternoon of
the jobs that need to be done the following day.  We sit down together in
the morning and go over the list assigning the jobs to which ever one of us
has the time or desire to do the job.  It has made my aide feel more like a
team member.  And we have surprised each other by the amount of work we can
accomplish in a day.  She even reads to the classes
sometimes as the students wait for their teacher to pick them up.  It helps
to save my voice and the students are not given time to misbehave.


My aide does all of the things you mentioned. (I serve 2 schools;she is at
one while I am at the other.)
You might make a checklist of her duties and then go over it w/your
principal.  Afterwards, meet w/her and the principal together. lay out the
checklist and tell her that this is what is expected.  It is not demeaning
to dust, etc.  What demeans a person is refusing to cooperate and do what is
asked in a reasonable way. I have my master's and I have never forgotten how
to shelve, dust, straighten, etc. and she needs to come off
her high horse because even if she gets a degree she may still have to do
some custodial things!

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