This job is open to
Federal employees - Competitive service
Current federal employees whose agencies follow the U.S. Office of Personnel Management's hiring rules and pay scales.
Land and base management
Current or former employees of a base management agency.
Veterans
Veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces or a spouse, widow, widower or parent of a veteran, who may be eligible for derived preference
Military spouses
Military spouses of active duty service members or whose spouse is 100 percent disabled or died on active duty.
Individuals with disabilities
Individuals who are eligible under Schedule A.
Family of overseas employees
Family members of a federal employee or uniformed service member who is or was, working overseas.
Peace Corps & AmeriCorps Vista
Individuals who have served at least 2 years with the Peace Corps or 1 year with AmeriCorps VISTA.
Special authorities
Individuals eligible under a special authority not listed in another hiring path.
Clarification from the agency
This Merit Promotion position is open to Current Federal Employees and Former Federal Employees with permanent status or reinstatement eligibility. Individuals who are eligible for a special appointing authority may also apply such as Individuals with Disabilities (Schedule A), former Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, and Vista volunteers; certain Military Spouses, or individuals eligible under various programs for Veterans (VRA, VEOA, 30% disabled).
Duties
The primary purpose of the position is to extend the use of NMAH’s collections by fulfilling user requests for digital assets in a range of formats; coordinating and directly performing image-based and audiovisual digitization; evaluating rights and legal reuse of media assets; and performing digital asset management tasks.
In this position, you will:
• Facilitate requests from internal and external stakeholders to obtain and use digital media assets depicting the museum collection.
• Communicate professionally with requestors regarding timelines and available rights and reproductions services, including high-resolution imaging, audiovisual reformatting, and usage permissions.
• Research and review media assets for potential legal, ethical, and policy restrictions.
• Evaluate risks and advise on the fair and legal use of NMAH’s digital collections media by internal and external users.
• Directly perform and support digitization of collections materials, including museum objects, analog audiovisual materials, and photographic- and paper-based archival materials, using overhead photography, flatbed scanning, 3D capture, and audiovisual reformatting.
• Prepare and import media assets into the Smithsonian’s digital asset management system and reference these assets in the museum’s collections and archival information systems.
More than one selection may be made from this announcement.
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, including one year time-in-grade at the next lower grade level for promotion candidates, must be met within 30 days of the job announcement closing date. See the 'Required Documents' section for additional information.
For information on qualification requirements, see Qualification Standards Handbook for General Schedule Positions viewable on OPM Website.
Qualifications
Experience: You qualify for this position if you have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-09 level in the Federal Service. For this position, this specialized experience is defined as: managing rights and reproductions functions at a cultural heritage institution, determining the rights status for collections media based on contemporary intellectual property and privacy laws, and digitizing collections to high level professional standards, including still image capture using professional digital camera systems and audiovisual reformatting of analog media using specialized equipment and established conversion workflows.
OR
You qualify with Education:
Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree
OR
3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree
OR
LL.M., if related such as library and information science, digital asset management, intellectual property law, media preservation and museum studies.
OR You may qualify with 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.
Your resume must be no more than two (2) pages and should clearly demonstrate how your experience aligns with the responsibilities and specialized experience required for this position. Do not copy language directly from the vacancy announcement, as you will be deemed ineligible for consideration. Instead, provide detailed, descriptive information about your actual experience.
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.
Education
There is no basic education requirement for this position.
Additional information
- This position is included in the bargaining unit.
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.
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.
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.
The Federal Government offers a comprehensive benefits package.
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:
- Skill in providing customer service and managing stakeholder expectations while balancing competing digitization needs and priorities.
- Knowledge of intellectual property and privacy law sufficient to research rights and restrictions, assess risk, and advise on the legal use of digital assets, including images and audiovisual files.
- Skill in applying established and emerging policies and standards governing scholarly, commercial, and promotional use of digital collections in museum, library, and archival settings.
- Skill in digitizing historical objects, archival materials, or fine art using digital cameras, flatbed scanners, and audiovisual reformatting equipment.
- Skill in using digital asset management systems, museum or archival collections information systems, online catalog tools, image editing and processing software, and file-sharing tools.
BASIS OF RATING: Once the announcement closes, your application will be automatically evaluated and rated by the system and a Human Resources Specialist. To determine if you are qualified for this job, a review of your application and supporting documentation will be made and compared against your responses to the occupational questionnaire. The numeric rating you receive is based on your responses to the questionnaire. The score is a measure of the degree to which your background matches the knowledge, skills, and abilities required of this position. If, after the Human Resources Specialist reviews your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that the score you have received is not a true reflection of your qualifications and/or experience, your score can and will be adjusted to more accurately reflect the information you provided that support your abilities. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating. Your resume should provide detailed information regarding how your education and experience relate to this position, including the major duties and qualifications criteria listed.
Veterans Employment Opportunities Act (VEOA): If you are applying for a VEOA appointment, you must be a veteran and must be honorably separated and either a preference eligible or have substantially completed 3 or more years of active service. ("Active Service" under this law means active duty in a uniformed service and includes full-time training duty, annual training duty, full-time National Guard duty, and attendance, while in the active service, at a school designated as a service school by law or by the Secretary concerned.) A veteran who is released under honorable conditions shortly before completing a 3-year tour is also eligible.
Noncompetitive Appointment Authorities: The following links contain information on the eligibility requirements to be considered under a noncompetitive appointing authority:
You may preview questions for this vacancy.