Clarification from the agency

This position is open to all U.S. Citizens or U.S. Nationals.

The duties of this position include, but are not limited to, the following:

-Working in cooperation with division staff, the Collections Support Office, Collections Management Services, Preservation Services, and other NMAH staff, ensures that proper procedures are followed with regard to the care, registration and documentation of the collections.

-Accessions and catalogs collections and maintains manual and automated collections inventories and files systems.

-Answers collections inquiries by letter, telephone, email and in person. Furnishes information on specialized subjects.

-Researches museum records, searches published and unpublished sources to complete cataloging, establish provenance and answer public inquiries.

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.

COVID-19 VACCINATION REQUIREMENTS: 

For the latest information on the COVID-19 vaccination requirements and its impact on your application, click on Smithsonian Institution’s Frequently Asked Questions at: https://www.si.edu/ohr/faq

Qualifications

Specialized Experience: You qualify for this position if you possess one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-05 level in the Federal service or comparable pay band system.  For this position specialized experience is defined as: providing collections management support for a collection in a historical museum or cultural setting including preserving collections; and using a collections information system and database to maintain museum collection information.

OR

Education: 1 full academic year of related graduate level education.  Related degrees may include library and information sciences.

OR

Superior Academic Achievement (SAA): S.A.A. is based on (1) class standing, (2) grade-point average, or (3) honor society membership.

1. Class standing -- Applicants must be in the upper third of the graduating class in the college, university, or major subdivision, such as the College of Liberal Arts or the School of Business Administration, based on completed courses.
2. Grade-point average (G.P.A.)-- Applicants must have a grade-point average of:
3. 0 or higher out of a possible 4.0 ("B" or better) as recorded on their official transcript, or as computed based on 4 years of education, or as computed based on courses completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum; or
4. 5 or higher out of a possible 4.0 ("B+" or better) based on the average of the required courses completed in the major field or the required courses in the major field completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum. Grade-point averages are to be rounded to one decimal place. For example, 2.95 will round to 3.0 and 2.94 will round to 2.9.
5. Election to membership in a national scholastic honor society -- Applicants can be considered eligible based on membership in one of the national scholastic honor societies listed below. These honor societies are listed by the Association of College Honor Societies (external link). Agencies considering eligibility based on any society not included in the following list must ensure that the honor society meets the minimum requirements of the Association of College Honor Societies. Membership in a freshman honor society cannot be used to meet the requirements of this provision.

OR

A combination of graduate level education and specialized experience as described above.

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 minimum qualifications described above. The applications that meet the minimum qualifications will be evaluated further against the following criteria:

-Knowledge of procedures for collections management, exhibition organization and publications production.

-Skill in using museum collections information systems and databases to support and maintain the collection’s information.

-Knowledge of American cultural history and its basic methodology and principles.

-Knowledge of historical research methods, from image and text databases to collections, for fact finding, tracing an object's provenance, title, date, dimensions, lender data, exhibition history, bibliographic resources, previous scholarly opinions and its story over time.

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.