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21 votes Vote

As people leave, replace some open LA positions with GRA positions.

GRA's have proven themselves to be intelligent, motivated, capable people. GRA's are perfectly capable of doing reference, copy cataloging, checking in serials, etc. The turnover is healthy for our organization and allows us to stay flexible. It also gives us an opportunity to support and groom new professionals in the field.

anonymous , 07.12.2010, 14:26
Response from the site administrator
Hopper_Moderator, 07.12.2010
Forwarded to the Strategic Planning Task Force for review.
Idea status: under consideration

Comments

onehopper, 10.12.2010, 19:29
Turnover is not always healthy and it is very expensive. Replacing LAs with GRAs means that training costs and times will increase. Continuity is also healthy and important. Saving money by creating positions that are paid lower and don't include benefits, in my opinion, is also not fair to either students or staff.
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hoppster, 10.12.2010, 20:37
I don't see how offering more GRA positions to students who are in the iSchool is unfair. They are practically begging for more opportunities to work in the library. Yes, there is quite a bit of turnover, but many LAs and librarians have the tendency to stay for 30 years and be much more inflexible about what they are willing to do as the organization and the nature of libraries evolve.
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gra, 11.01.2011, 20:47
As a GRA myself, I can tell you that we DO get benefits - including in-state tuition, which is a huge break for students who come from outside Texas like myself. I value my position highly due to those benefits, and it is also valuable experience for me.
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overideahopper, 17.12.2010, 17:06
Agree with onehopper's comment. If we are _lucky_, we get 2-3 semesters with our GRAs before they move on. Many of them have been excellent indeed, bringing useful skills and perspectives and fresh ideas to their work. But this also means that the GRA supervisors are training and re-training and closely supervising new personnel for hours every 2-3 semesters-- in many cases from 'step 1' (where do I photocopy, what authorizations do I need, where are office supplies) for just the basic functions (what is a serial record; what status is this borrower) of their job. Those of us who have been here for more than a few years may have forgotten how long it took to get the knowledge of systems, policies and materials, just to function on a most basic level. Many job duties require hours of accumulated knowledge to be even 50% effective, and it is not in any way efficient or necessarily good service to utilize people who are talented and intelligent temps for essential & basic services; nor are we doing I-School students any favors unless the duties provide opportunities of use to them in the professional job market.
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DennisHopper, 25.04.2011, 19:02
This is a slippery slope. If/when the economy recovers are we going to carry on employing GRA's and volunteers and just do away with LA positions? I vote no on this!
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