Archives Technician.

Smithsonian Institution

Suitland (MD)

On-site

USD 52,000 - 69,000

Full time

31 hours ago

Be an early applicant

Application generator

Don’t send a generic resume — generate a resume and cover letter tailored to this exact role.

Get past ATS filters

Job summary

The Smithsonian Institution is seeking an Archives Technician to help organize, describe, preserve, catalog, and provide access to the National Museum of the American Indian's archival collections. You will assist with physical management, processing, description, and reference services for researchers and the public.

You will work with Archivists’ Toolkit/ArchivesSpace/Archon, coordinate travel and purchases, and support the Archive Center and staff in daily operations, ensuring preservation

Qualifications

Specialized experience in archival arrangement, preservation and description of manuscript, photo and AV collections.
Experience with archive management systems and providing archival reference service.
Ability to perform basic administrative tasks (travel for staff, small purchase orders).

Responsibilities

Assist in physical collections management: tracking, rehousing, storage, inventories and condition monitoring.
Process new and legacy collections, rehouse materials and flag fragile items for preservation/digitization.
Describe materials for acquisitions and legacy items with finding aids in Archivists’ Toolkit/standards (DACS).
Prepare small purchase orders for supplies and services from vendors.
Support administrative tasks: arrange staff travel, hotel bookings, travel authorizations and vouchers.
Provide reference and research services onsite and remotely to the public and researchers.
Assist on-site researchers in reading room: identify collections, pull items, assist use and refile items.

Skills

Archival description

Reference services

Collection management

Travel arrangements

Administrative tasks

Education

Graduate education or Superior Academic Achievements

Tools

Archivists’ Toolkit

ArchivesSpace

Archon

Job description

Duties

The Archives Technician is responsible for assisting with the arrangement, description, preservation, cataloging and access to NMAI's moderately large archival collections.

In This Position, You Will

Assist the Head Archivist and Archive Center staff in the physical collections management of a wide-range of archival materials including but not limited to papers, photographs, film, video, and sound recordings. Responsibilities include tracking, rehousing, and storing of archival collections; monitoring temperature, relative humidity, and storage conditions; conducting archival collection inventories and surveys; and reorganizing and refiling collections materials, among other duties related to the care, preservation, and management of archival collections.
Process new and legacy archival collections. Apply basic preservation methods including removing damaging residue or attachments; rehousing documents in acid free folders and containers; and identifying and maintaining a running list of fragile materials that require preservation treatment and digitization.
Describe archival materials for both new acquisitions and unprocessed legacy collections. The description includes well-written and concise finding aids and collection level records entered in Archivists’ Toolkit system in accordance with archival descriptive standards including DACS.
Prepare small purchase orders to secure supplies and services from outside vendors.
Work on administrative and program support tasks including arranging travel for staff and contracted consultants, including scheduling transportation, making hotel reservations, supporting staff en route and preparing travel authorizations and vouchers.
Assist the Reference Archivist in providing reference and research services both onsite and remotely, to the public, Native American communities and constituents, researchers, and Smithsonian staff.
Assist on-site researchers in the Archive Center reading room by identifying appropriate collections, pulling items, assisting in their use, and refiling them. Answers staff and public inquiries by performing necessary research about archival holdings and responding in a detailed manner via email, phone, or letter.

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 must be met by the closing date of the announcement.

For information on qualification requirements, see Qualification Standards Handbook for General Schedule Positions on

Qualifications

Experience: You qualify for this position if you have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-06 level in the Federal Service. For this position, specialized experience is defined as working on archival arrangement, preservation, and description of manuscript, photo, and audiovisual (AV) collections; using archive management systems (Archivists’ Toolkit, ArchivesSpace, Archon, etc.), providing reference service to archival researchers, and executing basic administrative tasks (i.e., arranging travel for staff and preparing small purchase orders). Must have experience working with AV collections including identifying formats, inspecting, cleaning, splicing, rehousing, and describing audiovisual collections.

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.

Or Education: 1 Full year of graduate level education or Superior Academic Achievements

Or a Combination: Education and experience may be combined to meet the basic qualifications. For a full explanation of this option please see the

Education

See Above Under Qualifications..

Additional information

This position is included in the bargaining unit.

Current or Former Political Appointees:

Beginning January 1, 2010, agencies must seek prior approval from OPM before they can appoint a current or recent political appointee to a competitive or non-political excepted service position at any level under the provisions of title 5, United States Code. If you are currently or have been within the last 5 years, a political Schedule A, Schedule C, Non-career SES employee in the executive branch, you MUST disclose that to the Office of Human Resources. Submit a copy of your applicable SF-50, along with a statement that provides the following information regarding your most recent political appointment:

Position title;
Type of appointment (Schedule A, Schedule C, Non-career SES, or Presidential Appointee);
Agency; and,
Beginning and ending dates of appointment.

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.

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 Smithsonian offers a comprehensive benefits package that includes, in part, vacation and sick leave, holidays, health/life insurance, accident insurance, and excellent retirement program options.

Please see Benefits at