Hit : aide duties part 3

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

and more....

I found my aide to do about the things that yours is doing.  I finally
gave her 5 jobs to do:
Check in and out books
Shelve books
Repair books
Cut bookmarks for the children
Put book jackets on new books and stamp the school name on them
When I give her more than that she gets flustered and doesn't get the
books shelved.  When I asked her to cut bookmarks, she said that didn't
need to be done!!  (Kids love bookmarks)  I said that I have 4 years of
school and I am still cutting bookmarks-then she began to cut them!!


first to keep yourself out of trouble check her job description and see what
it says.  :)  You might even want to go over it with her.
 Try having a list of things she needs to complete.  A to-do list.  Cross
off the first one and go on to the next type thing.  You can add new tasks
to the bottom of the list.
I would also be honest with her about using work time for homework.  If she
wants to use her break or lunch time that would probably be okay. However,
she is not being paid to do her homework.  She is being paid to
be your aide.
It sounds like her college work is going to her head.  :)  She is in the
knows-just-enough-to-be-dangerous stage.  Hopefully, this is just a phase
and she will soon realize that she doesn't really know it all.



I have two part time assistants.  They run my circulation desk, overdues,
book processing, photocopying, keep the clutter under control, make coffee,
give jobs to the volunteers, pull requested materails, inventory, and
assistance me, teachers, and students when necessary.  they have even taught
some
classes when we are double booked.

My school system has a lengthy description and list of duties that pertains
to the media assistant(aide).  If you send me your address, I'll mail it to
you.  Sounds like your aide is LAZY!! If you provide her with a
specific job description with duties, will your school district support you?
You might want to check that out before you lower the boom on her. Just
remember this, despite what she THINKS she knows, YOU are the media
specialist.  Don't let her intimidate you. Good luck to you.

An aide, a secretary, assistant, associate:  whatever you call that
wonderful person who helps you.   Years ago I inquired about the job
description of an aide and I was told it was idiosyncratic.  An aide
should be able to do whatever you can do.  Often, Eileen fills in for me.
She needs to be able to do whatever the task at hand calls for.


There is nothing in the LMC that I, a highly trained professional with not
one but TWO Masters degress, will not do.  I regularly clean tables with
spray cleanser and rags, pick up litter, dust, straighten chairs
--- whatever needs to be done.  In my last school I had a dream of an aide
and the only thing she ever asked for was a lambs-wool duster so she could
hit the tops of the bookcases occasionally since the
custodians do not seem to be aware that the stacks even have tops!  Your
aide's attitude is unconscienable and needs to be addressed immediately by
you and duly noted in her next evaluation!  This is serious!

I had an aide sort of like that.  I used to leave jobs, i.e. a pile of books
to process and say things like I need these by tomorrow afternoon so there
would be a time limit.  It is difficult to be specific, and I know
how you feel about telling someone older than you what to do.  Hopefully, if
she sees you continuing to do some of the same things as you, it will help.
Try not to let her do the professional things such as ordering and
taking over classes as, even though she could do it a bit, she will think
she can do your job ( she is probably jealous of your position at a young
age).  Keep your sens of humor and kill it with kindness as getting angry
makes a work situation really unbearable.  Don't let the union stuff get to
you.  If you have a job description, she should follow it and if she isn't
you can get to the point of documenting things and having her sign it.  If
she is president, she'll know that she needs to pull her weight.  Sounds
like she's spreading her wings.

You need a written job description if one does not already exist, and it
should be composed with your principal. Further more,  you must have your
principal's support and explicit agreement to enforce the job requirements
up to and including replacing her if necessary.  You might test out the
waters, though. It is not uncommon to find administrators (like the whole
state of California) who think they can save a few bucks by having an
uncertified aide run the library.  If your aide has a union and status in
contract negotions, this might complicate the issue, but then include the
union rep. You can tell your aide for me, that as a professional librarian,
I wince at the thought of someone coming in to the profession with the
attitude that any of the tasks around the library are "demeaning". Please
encourage her in a different direction.

Been there, done that!  I have no real words of wisdom but lots of empathy.
My first school library job, I had an aid that was there before me.  She had
her own ideas of what she would do and what I would do.  If she disagreed
with me, she would simply ignore me.  When I threw away the book cards and
said we  were going to use the automated circ system only, she promply
started typing up
the book cards again and told me that she would not use the new system.  I
won;t go on with the tales of horror but let me say unions got involved.
she became
president of the paraprofessional union and started spending all her time on
union
business and threatening me with grievances.  She did file many grievances
all of which
stated that I had no right to tell her what to do as she should report directly
to the principal.  When she started sueing the school district, I left.  It
wasn't
worth it to me to fight a losing battle.  I spent three years with her.  The
previous
librarian had spent three years with her.  Now, the person who replaced me
has spent
three years with her.  If the administration won't do anything at this
point, it's hopeless.
There's surely enough of a paper trail to get rid of her by now!!

It sounds like you need to sit down with her and discuss your concerns.
Then have an outline of her duties.  If she flat out won't do them, I would
would talk to my administrator and see what he suggests.  My aide is
expected to process all books, handle all circulation duties, help
supervise student aides and when needed assist all students, but that is
only part of the general duties.  She also handles bulletin boards, daily
bulletin messages and helps do data entry for our on-line catalog.  I'm
sure these are not unrealistic expectations!

I know just what you are going through. I have an assistant who has been
here 15 years (I have been here 3) Fortunately I am a few years older than
her as I was a Geography teacher for 25 years before retraining as a
Librarian. However she likes to work on computers and thinks shelving and
dusting are secondary jobs. I employed another lady who is a fully trained
paraprofessional. I prefer her to do all book covering etc.
You must seek your Principal's help and draw up a list of duties for each
person on staff.
It must be pointed out that your qualifications have prepared you to manage
the library (selection cataloging etc. plus teach information skills to the
students. This does not usually leave you time to carry out tasks of
shelving and dusting and certainly not covering and labelling.
If the school does not have a cleaner(ours only do the floors) then dusting
becomes the job of the aide. Perhaps she could use her union position to
have someone employed for that job. I have never heard of an aide that does
not expect to have the tasks of book maintenance.
Before I ramble, I know your situation and feel for you but feel clear
written guidelines drawn up with the Principal are the way to go. You will
need to be strong, forget your age and rely on your qualifications.
Best of luck


  Fascinating.
        The fact remains that in her current position, this individual is
being insubordinate, and derelict in her assigned duties (not to mention
too big for her britches).  Simply.  Whether belatedly or not, you have a
responsibility as her supervisor to see that she conforms to your
PROFESSIONAL dictates.  Should she fail to conform to her work OBLIGATIONS,
you must document these facts, and offer appropriate remediation.  If,
after appropriate due process, this insubordination and dereliction of duty
persist, your school district has an obligation to fire this (or any such)
terrorist, who refuses to perform as ordered.
        Hey, your failure to be and act professional here would be evidence
of your being derelict in your duties and responsibilities.  (Did somebody
say this would be easy?  Well, actually it is, so long as you keep it
strictly professional--strictly business.)
        So, have fun, already.  Bigoted terrorist bullies have no place in
the professional ranks, union president (hiding behind that position) or
no.  But you knew that.
        Take care.

One more note...she may be your mom's age (probably my age!!!) but...you are
the certified librarian and responsible for the programs and operations of
your media center. Stand firm...It is hard to come in the new guy - I've done
it too...hang tough.

Bless your heart. What a mess. Have you visited with your principal about this
situation? Dusting and cleaning just comes hand in hand with working in a
library...do you have students who could dust? I have a wire basket where I
put things for my aide to do. I always attach a note with instructions if I am
wanting something special done. I also make lists and talk over what she needs
to do that day or hour. My aide is so helpful but she would never presume to
order books while I was gone. I would be livid... You have your hands
full...document, document, document...perhaps you could be included in her
annual evaluation. Don't let this slide any longer...easy to say, I know. Hang
in there. Good luck.

I have been in education now 35 years...26 as a Librarian..there is NO job
too demeaning...that includes cleaning up vomit etc...it sound to me as if
it is time for you, the aide, and principal to get together to discuss
what you have in your email message....if things do not get better after
that..then you should be working very hard to get a new aide!! She should
be working for you and the kids not for herself!

I have 2 library aides because I am only 1/2 time in each building.  One
would do anything I asked, including dusting (which I don't but she does it
because it bothers her that the media center looks a mess).  The other has
been getting more and more difficult about doing routine jobs.  I admit
that our 1/2 time person was removed this year (but she was really not 1/2
time because of breakfast and lunch duty), and that the school population
has increased, but she wants to pick and choose things she likes to do.
Since our Follett books come in with the school printed on the pocket and
the accession number, I realized that she was not putting the number on the
title page or stamping it.  I had to be firm (something I'm not great at)
and tell her that had to be done because the pocket could come out and no
one would know who the book belonged to.  She lets books sit on the cart
for a long time, and if she knows she is taking a day off she leaves them
for her sub.  She also has ordered books in the past or taken blanket
orders from teachers and again I've had to put a curb on it since we got a
lot of useless videos that teachers just circled in catalogs without really
reading the descriptions.
   Maybe you should work out a chart showing jobs which should be done
daily, weekly and monthly.  You'll need to be organized enough to check up
on her.  I'm not great at ordering people around, but with some people it's
the only way.

Until we had 8 levy failures I was a library specialist (aide) in our high
school library.  It was my dream job.  Until we get a levy passed I will
probably remain in my present job which I like ok.

I can't imagine this person not doing ANY job in the library that needs
doing.  We have students aide some of the time and we always told them
that EVERYONE assigned to library, including the librarian, does all of
the work....everyone gets to face shelves, shelve books, dust, erase
pages, repair books.  ANY job that they are capable of doing.  Its one
thing for her to fill in while you were out, but another entirely when you
are there.  This woman needs a big dose of reality.

Personally I think you need to define her job in writing (if it isn't
already) and bite the bullet and talk to her.

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