[Publib] Re: Jobs and People

[Robert Balliot]

According to the Superior
Court<http://www.dlt.state.ri.us/lrb/pdfs/CA97-4529.pdf>of Rhode
Island , Assistant Directors of Libraries and
department heads *are* clerical staff.

The case I linked to references:

Bd. of Trustees. Robert H. Champlin Memorial Library v. R.I. State Labor
Relations
 ~ 694 A.2d 1185, 1189 (R.I. 1997)

which characterized the work that professional librarians do as
'clerical'.   If you read
through the Tiverton Library case, the testimony of the Assistant Director
is remarkable:

"Miller stated that different directors of the library have specifically
told her that "[y]ou don't supervise, I'm the boss. This is my library."


R. Balliot
http://oceanstatelibrarian.com


On Fri, Aug 14, 2009 at 5:28 PM, Andy Barnett <abarnett at scls.lib.wi.us>
wrote:
>
> Jumping in a little late, but people should mainly do the work that is
appropriate to their pay grades and positions. Position descriptions should
actually be more than just paper. Clerical level staff should mainly be
doing clerical work.  This runs both ways. Clerical staff should not be
doing reference work, nor should they be shelving, checking in materials or
even checking out materials.
>
> We have three main levels of employees:
>        Shelvers - check in items, put them on carts and shelve them
>        Clerical - direct and indirect public service related mostly to
circulating materials, such as registration, fines and fees and our very
busy delivery (ILL), but also other direct public service such as children's
programs, especially during the summer.
>        Professional and paraprofessional - more specialized tasks, such as
reference, collection development, web site development, programs.
>
> Note that none of our staff is mainly checkout staff, since we only do 10%
of circ with our staff. Checking out materials is a patron level skill, as
is signing onto our Internet computers, renewing materials and finding
items. All our staff teaches patron level skills, assists patrons with them
and will even do them for patrons if that is the best service.
>
> But having staff spend time working below their pay grade and position
level wastes money and means that your staffing hasn't caught up with the
impact of automation on your position balance. Just plain bad HR management.
>
>
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