A ROYSTON school librarian has been awarded £20,000 compensation in an unfair dismissal case. Diane Glanville had worked in a job share post at Fearnhill School in Letchworth from 1989 until she resigned in October 2004. Her complaint against the school w

A ROYSTON school librarian has been awarded £20,000 compensation in an unfair dismissal case. Diane Glanville had worked in a job share post at Fearnhill School in Letchworth from 1989 until she resigned in October 2004. Her complaint against the school was that a part-time library assistant and administrator was hired to share the librarian post with her was not suitably qualified. The woman, who was appointed in March 2004, was not a trained or chartered librarian as Mrs Glanville and her former job share partner were. Mrs Glanville, 59, of Kneesworth Street, Royston, said: "She was appointed as a trainee and I wasn't asked. I was just informed I would be training her. "I had no consultation and I just couldn't do the job. "The whole learning resource centre was built up to be a good resource within the school and it would obviously deteriorate. The service would have gone downhill." An employment tribunal at Bedford agreed with Mrs Glanville and found that there was an "obvious gulf in expertise" in the new librarian. The tribunal also found that the new appointment would have given Mrs Glanville "greater de facto responsibility" and said that Fearnhill had "failed to pay due regard to the skills and professionalism required to be a school librarian". Mrs Glanville and Fearnhill agreed the compensation and the school also agreed to send her a letter of apology. Steve Jarvis, chairman of the governors at Fearnhill, said: "Essentially the school has agreed that it did not adequately consult her about the arrangements for appointing another member of staff as part of the job share. "There was a complex situation surrounding the job share agreement and we believed that we had carried out the correct procedure but we now accept that we didn't." Mrs Glanville said that it had been a "traumatic two years" and paid tribute to teaching staff from the school and Jean Tucker, her former job share partner, for their support. She said: "I think it's a fair judgment, I'm absolutely delighted with it. I would like to thank all my witnesses. "I certainly would wish the school every success for the future and I would hope the learning resource centre would continue to be a force for learning in the school as it always has been.