Summary

The Smithsonian Institution is the world’s largest museum, education, and research complex, with 21 museums and the National Zoo. This position is located in the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), NMAI's Cultural Resources Center (CRC) in Suitland, MD.

More than one selection may be made from this announcement.

Learn more about this agency

This job is open to

The public

U.S. Citizens, Nationals or those who owe allegiance to the U.S.

Clarification from the agency

This position is open to all U.S. Citizens or U.S. Nationals. Note: Federal employees with permanent status or individuals eligible for special appointing authorities may also apply to Job Announcement # More than one selection may be made from this announcement.

Duties

The Archives Technician is responsible for assisting with the arrangement, description, preservation, cataloging and access to NMAI's moderately large archival collections.

In this position, you will:

Assist the Head Archivist and Archive Center staff in the physical collections management of a wide-range of archival materials including but not limited to papers, photographs, film, video, and sound recordings. Responsibilities include tracking, rehousing, and storing of archival collections; monitoring temperature, relative humidity, and storage conditions; conducting archival collection inventories and surveys; and reorganizing and refiling collections materials, among other duties related to the care, preservation, and management of archival collections.

Process new and legacy archival collections. Apply basic preservation methods including removing damaging residue or attachments; rehousing documents in acid free folders and containers; and identifying and maintaining a running list of fragile materials that require preservation treatment and digitization.

• Describe archival materials for both new acquisitions and unprocessed legacy collections. The description includes well-written and concise finding aids and collection level records entered in Archivists’ Toolkit system in accordance with archival descriptive standards including DACS. Prepare small purchase orders to secure supplies and services from outside vendors.
  Work on administrative and program support tasks including arranging travel for staff and contracted consultants, including scheduling transportation, making hotel reservations, supporting staff en route and preparing travel authorizations and vouchers.
  Assist the Reference Archivist in providing reference and research services both onsite and remotely, to the public, Native American communities and constituents, researchers, and Smithsonian staff.
• Assist on-site researchers in the Archive Center reading room by identifying appropriate collections, pulling items, assisting in their use, and refiling them. Answers staff and public inquiries by performing necessary research about archival holdings and responding in a detailed manner via email, phone, or letter.

Requirements

Conditions of employment

• Pass Pre-employment Background Investigation
• May need to complete a Probationary Period
• Maintain a Bank Account for Direct Deposit/Electronic Transfer
• Males born after 12/31/59 must be registered with Selective Service.

Conditions of Employment

Qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of the announcement.

For information on qualification requirements, see Qualification Standards Handbook for General Schedule Positions on OPM website.

Qualifications

Experience: You qualify for this position if you have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-06 level in the Federal Service. For this position, specialized experience is defined as working on archival arrangement, preservation, and description of manuscript, photo, and audiovisual (AV) collections; using archive management systems (Archivists’ Toolkit, ArchivesSpace, Archon, etc.), providing reference service to archival researchers, and executing basic administrative tasks (i.e., arranging travel for staff and preparing small purchase orders). Must have experience working with AV collections including identifying formats, inspecting, cleaning, splicing, rehousing, and describing audiovisual collections.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Part-time and/or unpaid experience related to this position will be considered to determine the total number of years and months of experience. Be sure to note the number of paid or unpaid hours worked each week.

Or Education: 1 Full year of graduate level education or Superior Academic Achievements

Or a Combination: Education and experience may be combined to meet the basic qualifications. For a full explanation of this option please see the Qualification Standards. Special Instructions for Foreign Education: If you are qualifying by education and/or you have education completed in a foreign college/university described above, it is your responsibility to provide transcripts and proof of U.S. accreditation for foreign study. For instructions on where to fax these documents, see the "Required Documents" section of this announcement.

Education

See above under qualifications..

Additional information

• This position is included in the bargaining unit.

Current or Former Political Appointees: Beginning January 1, 2010, agencies must seek prior approval from OPM before they can appoint a current or recent political appointee to a competitive or non-political excepted service position at any level under the provisions of title 5, United States Code. If you are currently or have been within the last 5 years, a political Schedule A, Schedule C, or Non-career SES employee in the executive branch, you MUST disclose that to the Office of Human Resources. Submit a copy of your applicable SF-50, along with a statement that provides the following information regarding your most recent political appointment:

• Position title;
• Type of appointment (Schedule A, Schedule C, Non-career SES, or Presidential Appointee);
• Agency; and,
• Beginning and ending dates of appointment.

Recruitment Incentive: Recruitment incentive(s) may be authorized for this position. However, approval for incentives are contingent upon various availability. If authorized, certain incentives will require the incumbent to sign a service agreement to remain in the Federal government for a certain time period.

Note: This statement does not imply nor guarantee an incentive will be offered and paid.

Selections may be made for vacancies across the Smithsonian Institution (SI). By applying to this position, you agree to allow your application and other personal information to be shared with one or more SI hiring officials for employment consideration for same/similar positions within the location(s) identified in this announcement.

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

Benefits

The Smithsonian offers a comprehensive benefits package that includes, in part, vacation and sick leave, holidays, health/life insurance, accident insurance, and excellent retirement program options.

Please see Benefits at https://www.si.edu/OHR/benefits for a complete description.

Flexible Spending Accounts - https://www.fsafeds.com/

Health Insurance - http://www.opm.gov/insure/health/index.asp

Leave - http://www.opm.gov/oca/leave/index.asp

Life Insurance - http://www.opm.gov/insure/life/index.asp

Long Term Care Insurance - http://www.ltcfeds.com

Retirement Program - https://www.opm.gov/retirement-services/

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

Applicants for this position may be evaluated in multiple stages. The first stage is an evaluation of your responses to the online multiple-choice questions that assess your experience, education, and/or training for the job-related competencies below:

• Knowledge of methods of archival storage and preservation for paper, photographic, media, and digital materials.

• Knowledge of basic archival principles, methods, and techniques, automated information systems, and their applications to routine archival situations.

• Ability to use electronic archival and museum collection information management systems for describing, organizing, and managing archival holdings.

• Knowledge of purchasing procedures, rules, and regulations.

• Knowledge of Federal travel procedures, rules and regulations.

• Ability to perform onsite and remote reference service with a wide variety of archival researchers, including museum professionals, scholars, tribal representatives, artists, non-traditional researchers, and the general public.

Applicants who meet or exceed minimum qualifications will be assigned to one of three category groups based on job-related criteria:

• Best Category - Meets the minimum qualification requirements and excels in most of the job related competencies above.
• Better Category - Meets the minimum qualification requirements and satisfies most of the job related competencies above.
• Good Category - Meets the minimum qualification requirements, but does not satisfy most of the job related competencies above to a substantive degree.

This category rating process does not add veterans' preference points or apply the "rule of three", but protects the rights of veterans by placing them ahead of non-preference eligibles within each category. A selecting official may make selections from the highest quality category (Best Category) provided no preference eligible in that category is passed over to select a non-preference eligible in that category unless the requirements of 5 U.S.C. 3317(b) or 3318(b) are satisfied. Preference eligibles who meet minimum qualification requirements and who have a compensable service-connected disability of at least 10 percent must be listed in the highest quality category, except when the position being filled is scientific or professional at the GS-9 grade level or higher. Applicants who have not submitted a resume in the USAjobs system and/or have not answered all of the vacancy questions will not be considered for this position.

Important Note:

Your resume and supporting documentation will be compared to your responses to the occupational questionnaire or other assessment tool for consistency. If a determination is made that you have rated yourself higher than is supported by your resume, you will be assigned a rating commensurate to your described experience. Your resume should provide sufficient information regarding how your education and experience relate to this position, including the major duties and qualifications criteria listed.

You may preview questions for this vacancy.

Required Documents

Your application package should include the following documents:

• Resume - Your resume can be uploaded and attached to your application or created using the USA Jobs on-line resume builder. Ensure your resume contains the job title (including the occupational series and grade if it is Federal), job-related qualifications, starting and ending dates (month and year), hours worked per week, and salary for each employment period. It is your responsibility to ensure all information is submitted. Failure to include this information may result in disqualification for the position.

  For assistance with creating a resume, please click here.

• Proof of Veteran's Preference - DD214 (Member 4 Copy), if you are a veteran. Additionally, applicants claiming 10-point preference must complete Standard Form (SF) 15, Application for 10-Point Veteran Preference, as well as additional documentation required by the SF-15, such as a VA letter.

• Unofficial school transcripts, if the position has an education requirement or if you are using education to qualify. If selected for the position, you must provide an official transcript before appointment.

• Proof of U.S. accreditation for foreign study, if applicable.

If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:

Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.

How to Apply

Click on the "Apply Online" button on the upper right side of the page. Please Note:

• You must apply for this position online through the 'Apply Online' button and submit required supplemental documents (if they are relevant to you).
• You may submit required documents by uploading them online during the application process.
• The complete application package, including any required documents, is due in the Smithsonian Office of Human Resources on the closing date of the announcement by 11:59 PM Eastern Time.
• If you are unable to apply online, paper applications may be accepted with prior approval of the Contact Person listed below.

Agency contact information

Baaba Yanney

Phone

202-633-6342

Email

[email protected]

Address

SMITHSONIAN
Office of Human Resources
POB 37012, 600 Maryland Avenue, MRC 517
Suite 5060
Washington, District of Columbia 20013-7012
United States

Next steps

At the end of the application process you will be able to create and save a PDF file that contains your responses to the assessment questions. You may save this file as initial receipt of your application. After the job announcement closes, you will receive an email from the Smithsonian with confirmation of receipt. The Smithsonian receives many applications for each job. Each application is reviewed carefully which may take a few weeks. We will send you an e-mail to update you as we go through phases of the application review process. You may also check your application status by logging into www.usajobs.gov and selecting the tab "My USAJOBS;" e-mailing [email protected]; or by contacting the Office of Human Resources Representative listed. Additional Information:

• Tips on applying for Smithsonian jobs are available at https://www.si.edu/OHR/howtoapply.
• The Smithsonian does not pay relocation expenses but recruitment incentives may be authorized.
• The Smithsonian embraces diversity and equal employment opportunity (www.si.edu/oeema).

Overview

Accepting applications

Location

Suitland, MD

FEW vacancies

No matching locations found.

Work site options

Telework eligible

Yes—Ad-Hoc only

Remote job

No

Relocation expenses reimbursed

No

Salary

$57,736 - $75,059 per year

Pay scale & grade

GS 07

Promotion potential

07

Learn more about pay scale and grade

Pay scale and grade determines the salary of the job.

Work schedule

Full-time - Full-Time, Permanent

Travel Required

Occasional travel - Occasional travel to the NMAI-NY in NYC and conferences

Appointment type

Permanent - Federal

Occupations and job series

• 1421 Archives Technician

Supervisory status

No

Federal service type

This job is in the Competitive Service

Drug test

No

Security clearance

Other

Position sensitivity and risk

Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk

Jobs require a background check and some require a security clearance. The type depends on the job.

Background check type

• Credentialing
• Suitability/Fitness

Announcement number

27R-BY-314765-DEU-NMAI

Control number

887878600