The Smithsonian Institution is the world's largest museum, education, and research complex, with 21 museums and the National Zoo. This position is located in the Collections Management Unit, Museum Collections and Operations, National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), Under Secretary for Museums and Culture (USMC) Smithsonian Institution (SI). More than one selection may be made from this announcement.
Experience: You qualify for this position if you have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-07 level in the Federal Service. For this position specialized experience is defined as: experience in a museum, cultural, or historical organization focusing on Native American (or other indigenous culture of the Western Hemisphere) collections. The experience must include at least one of the following areas: Coordinating visitor services with an emphasis on Native American visitors, Collections management, Research related to Native art, culture, or history. OR You qualify with Education: Master's or equivalent graduate degree; OR 2 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree; OR LL.B. or J.D., if related OR You may qualify by a combination of experience and education. 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. 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.
As a Museum Specialist you will serve as a Liaison for NMAI's museum collection at the Cultural Resources Center (CRC) The duties of this position include, but are not limited to, the following: Have a working knowledge of the over 850,000 objects in the NMAI collection from North, Central and South America of Native cultures, art forms and material from a wide variety of geographic and cultural regions (contemporary, archaeological, and ethnographic) including an awareness of the potential spiritual and sensitive nature of some items or materials in Native collections to better facilitate collections visits. Conducts research on Native cultures and their material culture and make connections between different elements to determine best avenues for securing information for the researcher. Examples could include materials related to a specific tribe or all examples of netted style beadwork in the collections from the entire hemisphere. In addition to using the museum's database (EMu), the incumbent utilizes outside resources (i.e., Web searches, museum & outside publications, archaeological reports, and tribal websites). When developing database reports, the incumbent must also consider the cultural sensitivity of some objects. Exercises knowledge, skill, and experience in collections care practices and participates in collections care duties. This work includes maintaining the cleanliness of the collections space (vacuuming, dusting, and reshelving) and following all requirements for the proper tracking, moving and storage of collections objects. Manages requests for visits to the NMAI collections at the Cultural Resources Center that may come from Native community members and representatives, SI/NMAI staff, Federal and state officials, researchers, academics and curators, museum professionals, visitors, or the general public.