Duties

Summary

This position is located in the headquarters of the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, in Washington, DC. The Archives' mission is to collect, preserve, and make available primary sources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. With a collection of 30 million items, the Archives is the largest and most widely used resource on the history of American art in the world.

Learn more about this agency

Responsibilities

• Develops and executes a collecting plan and contributes to national collecting initiatives.
• Responsible for selection, description and scholarly appraisal of collections through close examination of their contents.
• Negotiates the conditions of gifts through a fully executed deed of gift.
• Tracks contacts, accessions new acquisitions, and prepares statistical and narrative reports on acquisitions.

Travel Required

25% or less - As requested.

Supervisory status
No

Promotion Potential
11

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

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.

For information on qualification requirements, see Qualification Standards Handbook for General Schedule Positions viewable on the web at http://www.opm.gov/qualifications.

Qualifications

Experience: You qualify for this position if you have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-9 level in the Federal Service or comparable pay band system. For this position Specialized experience is defined as experience in the solicitation, acquisition, description, and scholarly appraisal of archival collections. Experience communicating with a variety of internal and external contacts to negotiate acquisitions and respond to inquiries regarding potential solicited and unsolicited gifts. Experience advising researchers, including curators, art historians, and graduate students, bringing relevant sources of information to their attention.

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

Additional information

Flexible Spending Accounts - https://www.fsafeds.com/
Health Insurance - http://www.opm.gov/insure/health/index.asp
Leave - http://www.opm.gov/oca/leave/index.asp
Life Insurance - http://www.opm.gov/insure/life/index.asp
Long Term Care Insurance - http://www.ltcfeds.com
Retirement Program - https://www.opm.gov/retirement-services/

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:

• Ability to interpret and apply existing collecting guidelines, policies and procedures to achieve program objectives, including flexibility to develop/adapt new guidelines where existing ones do not apply.
  
• Knowledge of art history and the American art world, including current scholarly activity, standard appraisal criteria, and archival principles and techniques.
• Ability to cultivate, develop and maintain relationships and to negotiate with tact, diplomacy, and persistence.
• Ability to use collections management systems and other databases to enter, track, and managing accurate information and provide detailed reports.

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.

To preview questions please click here .

Background checks and security clearance

Security clearance
Other

Drug test required
No

Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk

Trust determination process
Credentialing

Required Documents

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. If you want to receive full credit for relevant experience your resume MUST containthe job title (including the occupational series and grade if it is Federal), duties, starting and ending dates (month and year), hours worked per week, and salary.

USAJOBS has guidance on how to ensure that you submit a complete resume: If you have not written a Federal resume before, you may watch this Resume Writing Tutorial video on the USAJOBS YouTube channel , or read through a helpful Resume Writing FAQ article on the USAJOBS Help Site to learn what details you should, and should not, include in your resume. If any of the above information is not included in your resume we may not be able to fully credit you for your experience.

• A copy of your most recent SF-50 which shows your position title, series, grade, step, salary, position occupied, and tenure to verify Time-in-Grade/competitive status. If you have previously held a higher grade and are applying based on that grade you must provide a copy of the SF-50 showing you held the higher grade and/or have promotion potential to the grade being advertised. Do NOT submit award SF-50s.
• Most current Performance Appraisal.

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.