• Assists the Assistant 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.
• Processes new and legacy archival collections. Applies 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.
• Describes 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.
• Prepares small purchase orders to secure supplies and services from outside vendors.
• Works 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.
• Assists 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. Assists 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.

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.

Qualification requirements must be met within 30 days of the job announcement closing date.

For information on qualification requirements, see Qualification Standards Handbook for General Schedule Positions viewable on the web at http://www.opm.gov/qualifications.

Qualifications

Experience:

You qualify for this position if you possess one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-6 level in the Federal Service or comparable pay band system. For this position Specialized experience is defined as working on archival arrangement, preservation, and description of manuscript, photo, and mixed-media collections; using archive management systems (Archivists’ Toolkit, Archon, etc.), providing reference service to archival researchers, and executing basic administrative tasks (i.e., arranging travel for staff and preparing small purchase orders).

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:

Graduate education may be credited in those few instances where the graduate education is directly related to the work of the position.

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.

How you will be evaluated

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

Your application will be evaluated first for the basic qualifications described above. The applications that meet the basic qualifications will be evaluated further against the following criteria:

• 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.

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