Supervisory Archivist

Clarification from the agency

Current Smithsonian Institution Internal Employees/Agency Employees Only may apply including current Smithsonian Institution employees with Federal career/career-conditional status or eligibility. More than one selection may be made from this announcement.

The Supervisory Archivist, is responsible for managing and directing work within the NASM Archives Department.  

In this position, you will:

• Plan and carry out the full range of supervisory and managerial authorities related to assignment of work, coordination with other programs, management advisory services, technical work direction, setting performance standards and evaluating subordinates, making selections for non-supervisory positions, resolving complaints, initiating disciplinary actions, identifying training needs, recommending for awards, and determining means to improve productivity of the staff.
• Provide day-to-day management and supervision of the Archives unit by coordinating and integrating work schedules and processes with work of subordinates or others.
• Develop, write, and implement formal policies and procedures for archival collecting and digitation plans for every artifact within the NASM collection.
• Develop and implement performance metrics tracking the efficiency and timeliness in which work projects and assignments are completed.
• Define, schedule, and manage documentation projects involving archival materials; following accepted archival standards, e.g., Society of American Archivists, implements preservation projects in conjunction with NASM conservation department; prepares grant proposals for digitization efforts and manages projects once funded.
• Refine and implement the NASM archival organization plan. Organizes the archival facility in terms of the existing records, documents of an institutional nature (e.g., records relating to policy and administration, research, business activity, exhibitions, education, and outreach), materials relating to the NASM artifact collections, and other collections for which NASM is the repository.

Conditions of employment

• Requires career/career-conditional status or eligibility.
• 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

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.

Professional experience must have been in archival science, or in a directly related field of work such as history that involved the collection, appraisal, analysis, or synthesis of information having historical or archival values. The following are illustrative of kinds of experience that may be accepted as meeting the professional experience requirements: (1) experience as an archivist in Federal, state, religious institution, business, or other archives, or in manuscript depositories, and (2) experience of an archival nature that involved research in archival science, or in a directly related field such as history, government, economics, political science, international relations, or international law.

In addition to the basic qualification requirement above, applicants must also meet the following minimum qualifications:

GS-13 Experience: You qualify for this position if you have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-12 level in the Federal Service.  For this position, specialized experience is defined as providing strategic leadership for archival programs; directing staff, budgets, contracts, and resources; developing archival collecting and digitization strategies; establishing policies and long-range plans; and leading cross-organizational initiatives to enhance stewardship and access to archival collections.

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.

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.

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.

In an effort to streamline our hiring process, SI employees whose current position of record is in the same job series 1420 and who are in a Federal competitive appointment as this advertised position, are not required to submit a transcript with your application package. However, if selected, you will be required to provide a copy of your transcript before your start date in the position.

Time-in-Grade Requirements: Under competitive merit promotion procedures, any individual who is currently holding, or who has held within the previous 52 weeks, a General Schedule position under a non-temporary appointment in the competitive or excepted service, must meet "time-in-grade" requirements (have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade of the grade for which you are applying).

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:

1. Knowledge and experience in managing staff, setting work expectations a supervisory responsibility including assigning and reviewing work, counseling subordinates, appraising performance, and resolving complaints.
2. Knowledge of common software such as Office to improve work processes and information sharing.
3. Knowledge of and experience in stewarding archival collections to establish and implement plans, processes, and procedures, ensure legal, ethical, and professional requirements are met, and apply best practices, standards, and ethics to carry out all functions.
4. Knowledge and experience in using automated archival collections information systems and experience in applying computer techniques to archival information to gather, input, analyze information, and produce reports.
5. Knowledge and ability to strategize, write, and implement guidelines, policies, and procedures for all facets of archival work including the preparation of fund-raising proposals.
6. Knowledge of the principles and theoretical concepts of professional archival work for document, photo, film and video, and digital collections.

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 detailed information regarding how your education and experience relate to this position, including the major duties and qualifications criteria listed.

Your application package should include the following documents:

• Resume - Your resume can be uploaded and attached to your application or created using the USA Jobs on-line resume builder. Ensure your resume contains the job title (including the occupational series and grade if it is Federal), job-related qualifications, starting and ending dates (month and year), and hours worked per week, for each employment period. It is your responsibility to ensure all information is submitted. Failure to include this information may result in disqualification for the position.

  For assistance with creating a resume, please click USAJOBS Help Center - How do I write a resume for a federal job?

• Current and former employees MUST submit a copy of their Standard Form (SF)-50, “Notice of Personnel Action,” that indicates proof of status and time-in-grade eligibility. SI Trust employees are ineligible for Merit Promotion consideration unless you submit a Standard Form (SF) - 50, "Notice of Personnel Action", that indicates proof you previously held a 'status' position and proof of time-in-grade.  The SF-50 must include your position title, series, grade, step, salary, type of service (competitive or excepted in block 34), and tenure (1 or 2 in block 24). Please provide a SF-50 that shows the length of time you have been in your current/highest grade level.  Examples of appropriate SF50s include: Appointments, Reassignments, Within-grade/range increases or Promotion actions.  NOTE: Pay adjustments and award SF-50s do not include the length of time in your current position, therefore, they are NOT acceptable SF-50’s on their own. You may need to provide more than one SF-50. Failure to provide the appropriate SF-50(s) may prevent you from receiving consideration for this position.

• Unofficial school transcripts, if the position has an education requirement or if you are using education to qualify. If selected for the position, you must provide an official transcript before appointment.
• Proof of U.S. accreditation for foreign study, if applicable.

Next steps