Summary

The Folklife Internship provides experiences in archival practice, cultural heritage research, and programming, while building participants’ knowledge about ethnographic materials. AFC staff supervise work on projects aligned with the successful applicant’s qualifications and interests. US citizens currently enrolled in undergraduate or graduate school are invited to apply for consideration, as are community scholars or other individuals with experience working in the heritage sector.

This job is open to

The public

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

Clarification from the agency

U.S. Citizens.

Duties

This program offers participants insights into the environment and activities of the American Folklife Center, which pairs robust cultural programming with the world's largest ethnographic archive. Interns will be exposed to a broad spectrum of public programs and archives work: artist liaison, production, preservation, reference, access standards, and information management. Depending on the specific project they are assigned, interns will assist staff with coordinating and producing public programs; archival processing of special collections in many different formats; managing digital outreach activities and communications; or supporting reference and research activities. Near the end of their appointment at the Library, the interns will reflect on their projects and experiences by producing a blog post, as well as a presentation for AFC staff.

PROJECTS:

The project names for 2026 are listed below. For further information on any project, please contact the American Folklife Center: folklife@loc.gov or 202-707-5510.

#01 – Digital resources support: Provide creative and technical assistance for curated digital resources published regularly by the Center. Such products include two podcast series, Folklife Today and America Works, blog posts, Research Guides, and digital collections. Responsibilities may include collection research, interpretive writing, digital asset selection, editing, and/or file preparation. Examples available here: https://loc.gov/podcasts/ or https://guides.loc.gov/american-folklife.

#02 – 50^th Anniversary Programs Support: Assist staff in running public programs and initiatives that are part of the celebrating the Center’s 50^th anniversary in 2026. Responsibilities may include reference work and/or collections exploration; public program staffing; or curatorial support for exhibitions or collection displays.

#03 – Collections Processing: Work with AFC staff to support archival processing of multiformat collections, primarily including analog manuscript, photographic, and audio/visual materials. Responsibilities will include rehousing, labeling, metadata creation, and other tasks related to arrangement and description of a variety of archival materials.

#04 – Boxed Set Research: Support AFC staff in collections research and curatorial work for a proposed publication of audio materials from AFC collections. This publication would support the 2028 100^th anniversary of the Archive of Folk Culture. Responsibilities will entail coordinating exploration of audio collection materials; identifying assets and collection materials for inclusion in the publication; developing interpretive and descriptive text; and general editorial assistance.

This position is located in the American Folklife Center, Library Services, within the Library Collections Services Group.

The position description number for this position is 409513.

The salary range indicated reflects the locality pay adjustments for the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan area.

The incumbent of this position will work a flextime work schedule.

This is a non-supervisory, non-bargaining unit position.

Relocation expenses will not be authorized for the person(s) selected under this vacancy announcement.

Requirements

Conditions of employment

Projects require basic knowledge of Microsoft Office programs.
MUST be first time participant in the AFC Folklife Internship Program.
Program participants from previous years not eligible to reapply.

Library of Congress employees are prohibited from using illegal drugs, including marijuana. The Library is part of the Federal Government and abides by federal law, so regardless of individual state or District of Columbia laws, marijuana use is illegal, considered criminal activity, and can affect your employment at the Library. In addition, past or current drug use and activities (e.g., selling or distributing) may deem you ineligible for employment.

Qualifications

Applicants must have had progressively responsible experience and training sufficient in scope and quality to furnish them with an acceptable level of the following knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform the duties of the position without more than normal supervision.

Familiarity with concepts relevant to preserving and presenting folklife and cultural heritage. Internship is open to non-students and students alike, so there are multiple ways to demonstrate qualification:

- through completion of substantive coursework in fields such as folklore, ethnomusicology, American studies, anthropology, heritage studies, or library and archives management of cultural materials; or

- equivalent experience working in the field with communities on cultural heritage documentation, presentation, and/or preservation

2. MUST BE AVAILABLE FOR FULL TEN WEEK PERIOD. (NO EXCEPTIONS) (Note: The start and ending dates have changed to coincide with the beginning of the pay period cycle.) You may choose to start dates are May 18, June 1, or June 29, 2026, internship extends for ten weeks from chosen starting date.

3. Appointment/retention is subject to a favorable evaluation of a personnel security/suitability investigation.

4. Resume (either uploaded or created using the Resume Builder).

5. If applicable: latest transcript from the current or most recently attended college or university; unofficial copy acceptable.

6. Cover letter stating professional objectives, interests in internship and related fields, and relevant professional skills; include language abilities if relevant. The cover letter should clearly identify your top 2 project choices and why you have chosen them.

7. Contact information for two (2) references who can speak to your knowledge, skills, and abilities when it comes to professional aptitude in project-driven work environments.

Education

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.

Additional information

Although it is the Library's policy to afford the maximum pay benefit to employees when setting rates of pay, a new appointee who has had no previous Federal service will generally be paid at step one of the grade.

The Library of Congress is an equal opportunity employer.

Applicants must submit a complete application package that is received by the closing date of this announcement.

Appointment/retention is subject to a favorable evaluation of an appropriate personnel security/suitability investigation. For more information, please see:Vetting Process

This agency provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process, please email ADA@loc.gov. The decision on granting reasonable accommodation will be determined on a case-by-case basis.

Applicants with disabilities may be considered under special hiring procedures and must submit an appropriate certificate of eligibility when applying for this position. The proof or disability/certification may be issued by the State Vocational Rehabilitation Office, Disability Services or Career Services office of the applicant’s college or university, or the Department of Veterans Affairs. The letter must verify that the applicant has a severe disability and must be dated within three years of the date of the application. Certification from health care providers are not accepted. For more information contact the Library's Office of Equal Employment Opportunity at 202-707-6024 or email spp@loc.gov. FAILURE TO SUBMIT YOUR CERTIFICATION WILL CAUSE YOUR APPLICATION TO NOT BE CONSIDERED UNDER THE SELECTIVE PLACEMENT PROGRAM.

The Library of Congress is the national library of the United States and is part of the Legislative Branch of the Federal government. As such, all positions are in the excepted service.

The Library reserves the right to fill a lesser or greater number of vacancies indicated during the life of this vacancy announcement.

Initial permanent appointments to the Library of Congress require completion of a one-year probationary period. Probationary periods served at other Federal agencies do not count toward this requirement.

The Library of Congress may offer repayment for all or part of federally insured student loans. However, not all service units within the Library of Congress participates in the repayment of federally insured student loans. Therefore, determination to repay a federally insured student loan is subject to approval by the appropriate service unit.

A “Not to Exceed" (NTE) status is used to identify an appointment with a specific ending date. However, the Library has the right to separate a NTE employee at any time due to either performance issues or budget constraints.

Are you a veteran? Please indicate the type of veterans' preference you are claiming in your application materials and/or applicant profile and provide the appropriate supporting documentation to validate your claim. Those applying for 5-point preference must submit Member Copy 4 of your DD 214. Those applying for 10-point preference must fill out an SF-15 (click here for the form) and provide the required documentation listed on the back of the form. If required supporting documentation is not attached, Veterans' Preference will not be considered in the application process.

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.

A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.

Review our benefits

Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.

How you will be evaluated

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

The Library of Congress evaluates applicants through an applicant questionnaire and a structured interview. Applicants may also be screened for some jobs through licensing, certification, and/or education requirements, a narrative/application review, and/or a preliminary telephone interview. The knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) that are marked with a double asterisk (**) in the vacancy announcement and the applicant questionnaire are considered the most critical for a position. To be considered for final selection, applicants must demonstrate fully acceptable experience in these designated KSAs in the narrative/application review, preliminary telephone and/or full structured interview. The various assessment tools listed above are designed to verify or explore applicants' experience, knowledge, and training directly related to the job in order to identify the best qualified applicants for selection.

You may preview questions for this vacancy.

Required Documents

Include a cover letter to share skills and goals relevant to this application.
Your resume should include relevant work experience, applicable education and your contact information. For current or previous federal employees, include the pay plan, series and grade.
Transcripts may support your qualifications for a federal job and can include high school, college or other schools.

If any documents are missing, your application will be disqualified.

1. REQUIRED - Resume.

2. REQUIRED – Contact information for two (2) references who can speak to your knowledge, skills, and abilities when it comes to professional aptitude in project-driven work environments.

3. OPTIONAL- Latest transcript from the current or most recently attended university or college. We will accept an unofficial copy.

4. REQUIRED - Cover letter stating professional objectives, interests in internship and related fields and relevant professional skills; include language abilities if relevant. The cover letter should clearly identify your top 2 project choices and why you have chosen them.

Applicants with disabilities may be considered under special hiring procedures and must submit an appropriate certificate of eligibility when applying for this position. The proof or disability/certification may be issued by the State Vocational Rehabilitation Office, Disability Services or Career Services office of the applicant’s college or university, or the Department of Veterans Affairs. The letter must verify that the applicant has a severe disability and must be dated within three years of the date of the application. The program does not accept certification from health care providers. For more information contact the Library's Office of Equal Employment Opportunity at 202-707-6024 or email spp@loc.gov. FAILURE TO SUBMIT YOUR CERTIFICATION WILL CAUSE YOUR APPLICATION TO NOT BE CONSIDERED UNDER THE SELECTIVE PLACEMENT PROGRAM.

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

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

Please carefully follow all instructions under the How to Apply tab to ensure you are considered for the position.

Please note, there is no page restriction to your resume, and you are allowed to upload a resume longer than two pages in the resume section within the application process. When the application system prompts, please proceed to the agency site to complete your application.

You are required to apply online for this announcement. We are unable to accept mailed or emailed documents. You must complete the entire application process, including submission of all documents BEFORE this announcement closes. To do so, complete the following steps.

Step 1: If you do not already have one, create a resume and upload it to your profile in the "Resume" section. Although you must enter your Social Security Number for USAJOBS, this information will not be provided to the Library of Congress.

Step 2: Review the Job Announcement. We recommend you go to the end of the Qualification and Evaluation section of the job announcement to preview the online questions that you will answer in Step 4. You may wish to customize your resume to ensure that it supports your responses to these questions.

Step 3: Click on the "APPLY ONLINE" button to the right of this announcement. Follow USAJOBS' instructions to access your account. You will be redirected to the Hiring Management website to complete the application process. If this is your first time in Hiring Management, you will be asked to answer questions related to your eligibility for Federal employment. You will be able to update this information and save it to our account for future announcements.

Step 4: Once you have completed the eligibility questions, you will be taken directly to the vacancy application questions. Answer all questions honestly and thoroughly.

Step 5: Hiring Management offers one option that will electronically attach your documentation to your online application once you finish answering the questions in the job announcement.
You may electronically upload a document directly from your computer to your application. Be certain to review your complete application for confirmation of the document uploaded and click on "Finished" to be returned to USAJOBS.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you have multiple documents of the same kind, e.g. 2 undergraduate transcripts from different schools or 2 SF-50s, etc., be sure that they are all in the same file on your computer. If you try uploading them individually, only the last one sent will be visible in our system. If you have any questions about this information, please contact the person on this announcement BEFORE the closing date.

Step 6: Click on "Finish" after you have completed your application. Once you have submitted your application, you can check your status online through your Hiring Management or MY USAJOBS account. Your complete online application and any required supplemental documentation (e.g., SF-50, etc.) must be received by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on the closing date of the announcement. It is your responsibility to ensure that all documents are received on time and that the materials are readable. Failure to do so will result in your application being excluded from consideration for this announcement.

If you are experiencing any technical difficulty with the online process, you MUST CONTACT THE POINT OF CONTACT FOR THIS ANNOUNCEMENT BEFORE THE CLOSING DATE. For all technical issues please contact jobhelp@loc.gov , no later than 4:00pm EST of the Closing Date. REQUESTS FOR EXTENSIONS WILL NOT BE GRANTED.

Agency contact information

Customer Service Center

Phone: 202-707-5620
Fax: 000 000 0000
Email: JobHelp@loc.gov

Address: LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
101 Independence Ave SE, Washington, DC 20540
Washington, District of Columbia 20540
United States

Next steps

Please review our evaluation process under Evaluation. You may check the status of your application for this position at any time by logging onto the USAJOBS "My USAJOBS" tab and clicking on "My Applications." You will receive final notification via e-mail when the vacancy has been filled.

2026 AFC Folklife Internship Job in Washington, DC