This position is located in the Archive of Folk Culture, American Folklife Center, Special Collections Directorate, Researcher and Collections Services. The position description number is 402567. The salary range reflects the locality pay for the Washington, D.C., Metro area. The incumbent of this position will work a flextime work schedule. This is a supervisory, non-bargaining unit position. Relocation expenses will not be authorized for the person selected under this vacancy announcement.
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. Ability to manage the full range of archival stewardship activities for collections documenting folklife, ethnomusicology, oral history and documentary studies.** Ability to manage and lead a diverse workforce.** Ability to analyze organizational and operational problems and develop solutions to plan and carry out library programs.** Ability to communicate in writing. Ability to communicate effectively other than in writing.
Career Showcase Supervisory Librarian (Director, American Folklife Center Archives) (VAR003154) Tuesday, September 9th 1:00 PM ET – 2:00 PM ET This event will be livestreamed on Zoom for Government. Join a live, virtual Career Showcase to learn about an exciting career opportunity directly from senior leaders at the Library of Congress. Simply log on to the link below on Tuesday, September 9th, at 1:00 PM (ET) to learn about the Supervisory Librarian (Director, American Folklife Center Archives) role at the Library of Congress. Registration is not required. To participate anonymously, simply identify yourself as "Anonymous2025" when entering the session. Please join the webinar on Zoom. When: Tuesday, September 9th, at 1:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) Topic: Library of Congress – Supervisory Librarian (Director, American Folklife Center Archives) Zoom Link: https://loc.zoomgov.com/j/1603163876 Or join by telephone: +1 669 254 5252 Webinar ID: 160 316 3876 Request ADA accommodations five business days in advance at (202) 707-6362 or ada@loc.gov. A recording of the Career Showcase will be available by no later three business days following the event. The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress is hiring a Director, AFC Archives to lead the day-to-day administration of the Archive of Folk Culture. The Archives Director is responsible for managing teams of archivists, technicians, and digital specialists who steward a dynamic ethnographic archives documenting traditional culture from around the world, including the earliest field recordings made in the 1890s on wax cylinder through recordings made using digital technology. The Director is responsible for acquisitions, processing, preservation and digital access activities related to the Center’s collections, which includes the Veterans History Project collection. The role is a significant leadership opportunity, calling for the successful applicant to work with the AFC Director and a team of supervisors and team leads, to lead a committed archives staff as they serve the needs of Congress and the public. Supervises a group of employees performing work up to the GS-14 level. Provides administrative and technical supervision relative to the staff supervised. Plans work to be accomplished by subordinates, sets and adjusts short-term priorities, and prepares schedules for completion of work; assigns work to subordinates based on priorities, selective consideration of the difficulty and requirements of assignments, and the capabilities of employees; observes workers’ performance; demonstrates and conducts work performance critiques. Establishes guidelines and performance expectations for staff and clearly communicates these through the formal employee performance management system. Provides informal feedback and periodically evaluates employee performance. Resolves informal complaints and grievances. Recommends appointment, promotion, or reassignment and develops work improvement plans, recommending personnel actions as necessary. Provides advice and counsel to workers related to work and administrative matters. Serves as a primary advisor to top management on the various folklife archives and library preservation projects and/or programs, policies and initiatives, including the Veterans History Project. Plans, develops and carries out a vital archives project planning and execution of highly visible projects and the participation in the evaluation, development and documentation of long-term and short-term archives special collections strategies. Plans, develops and implements complex multi-phased archival preservation and access projects that require collaboration and coordination across multiple service units, the formation of cross-divisional working groups; and collaboration with other governmental agencies and external partners. Handles and troubleshoots largely undefined issues and elements that require deep probing and analysis to determine the scope and nature of the problem. Develops authoritative new approaches, methods or standards to resolve critical or highly unusual project planning related problems. The projects are essential to the missions of the Library and affects large numbers of people on a long-term or continuing basis. The work encompasses a broad range of library functions and processes related to the acquisition, management and preservation of Folklife related collections and archives projects. Serves as a primary advisor to the AFC Director on the development and stewardship of AFC collections, including establishing acquisitions policies and priorities; developing and implementing preservation protocols and practices for AFC’s digital and analog collections. Provides expert, authoritative guidance to AFC Director regarding AFC acquisition and collections development policy, to include matters pertaining to subject areas, scope, format, preservation, security and access.