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 23R-SB-308557-MPA-AAA. More than one selection may be made from this announcement.

The Archivist is responsible for applying professional and current archival standards, best practices, and methodologies to accessioning, assessing, arranging, preserving, describing, and transporting archival collections of personal papers and manuscripts. 

In this position, you will:

• Process newly accessioned archival collections of personal papers, or historical records of institutions, societies, galleries, or associations according to national archival standards and best practices, and the Archives’ written guidelines and procedures.

• Prepare written, concise, and organized finding aids that meet current archival descriptive standards and best practices.

• Assist the Collections Specialist and Registrar with logistical operations when needed for new acquisitions, such as assisting with onsite appraisals, packing, and shipping new acquisitions, shelving new acquisitions and labeling boxes.

• Perform reference services on a regular schedule.

  
  

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

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. 

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

Basic Qualifications:

1. Bachelor's degree in archival science or bachelor's degree with a major that includes 18 semester hours in archival science, history and/or in political science or government, and 12 semester hours in one or any combination of the following: archival science, history, American civilization, economics, political science, public administration, or government.

   OR

2. Combination of education and experience - at least 30 semester hours that included courses as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

In addition to the basic qualification requirement above:

Experience: You qualify for this position if you have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-07 level in the Federal Service.  For this position, specialized experience is defined as applying national archival standards, methodology, and best practices to all the activities that comprise collections archival processing, including arrangement, description in electronic formats, and preservation of archival collections comprised of a variety of media formats typically found in contemporary archival collections.

Or Education: 2 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a master's degree or master's or equivalent graduate degree

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.

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.

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 basic and current archival principles, concepts, methodology, and procedures for performance in activities that comprise archival collections processing, arrangement, preservation, and description.
• Knowledge of the formal and standard rules for describing archives, personal papers, and manuscript collections, and automated systems for creating finding aids for archives and manuscript collections. 
• Knowledge of archival assessment methodologies for collections and special formats found within collections. 
• Knowledge of the history of art and/or social and cultural history in America.

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.