Librarian (Law)

Summary

This position is located in the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA), in various locations around the US. Salary: The salary range indicated in this announcement will be adjusted to include locality payment for selected duty location. General Schedule locality pay tables may be found under Salaries & Wages.

Duties

• As a Librarian (Law), you will perform the following duties: Provide reference and research support, including guiding users to appropriate legal resources and compiling legislative histories. Advise and train OPLA employees in new and emerging library technologies, references, and related information. Draft written training and outreach materials. Assist in preparing content for publication via SharePoint. Assist with maintaining the library budget and preparing budget requests. Enhance resource sharing through DHS and other agency partnerships.

Qualifications

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Do not copy and paste the duties, specialized experience, or occupational assessment questionnaire from this announcement into your resume as that will not be considered a demonstration of your qualifications for this position. Applicants must demonstrate that they meet the Basic Requirement, Specialized Experience, AND Law Specialization Requirement as noted below. Basic Requirement: You must meet one of the items listed below (A or B): A. Completion of 1 full academic year of graduate study in library science in an accredited college or university, in addition to completion of all work required for a bachelor's degree. (Must provide transcripts) or B. A total of at least 5 years of a combination of college-level education, training, and experience. To qualify on this basis, the applicant must establish conclusively that the education, training, and experience provided a knowledge and understanding of the theories, principles, and techniques of professional librarianship; a knowledge of literature resources; and the knowledge and abilities essential for providing effective library and information services. (Must provide transcripts) AND Specialized Experience, GS-13: You must demonstrate at least one year of specialized experience equivalent in difficulty and responsibility to the GS-12 level in the Federal service that included performing at least 3 of the following: Assisting customers with research queries involving multiple variables; Locating legal information to address novel questions; Monitoring legislative or regulatory developments to provide information to customers; and Identifying information gaps to provide targeted research solutions. AND Law Specialization Requirement: Because this position is primarily concerned with providing library services in law and legal reference, applicants must also meet the requirements specified in one of the paragraphs below: a. Legal Education Completion of at least 24 semester hours of legal study in an accredited law school for positions primarily concerned with providing library services in law or legislative reference. (Must provide transcripts) or b. Law-Related Experience Four years of pertinent experience of such nature and level to provide a knowledge of the basic principles, theories, practices, techniques, terminology and expressions of law; an understanding of the standard methods, procedures, and techniques of research and analysis in law or legal-related field; ability to acquire additional information about the field and related fields; and some knowledge of literature resources in the field. Such experience must be equivalent to that which would have been acquired through successful completion of legal training as described in (a) above. or c. Combination of Legal Education and Experience Any time-equivalent combination of experience as described in (b) above and education as described in (a) above. All qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement. Qualification claims will be subject to verification. NOTE: 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.

Education

This position requires specific coursework and/or a degree to meet the basic education requirement. You must submit an official transcript, unofficial transcript, or a list including courses, grades earned, completion dates, and quarter and semester hours earned. Your transcript(s) must clearly demonstrate the course(s) listed in the qualification requirement section. If the transcript(s) does not clearly demonstrate this you must submit a copy of the course description and/or other documentation demonstrating that the courses are equivalent. If you are claiming education as any part of your qualifications for this position, you must submit an official transcript, unofficial transcript, or a list including courses, grades earned, completion dates, and quarter and semester hours earned. Special Instructions for Foreign Education: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show that the education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university. Failure to provide such documentation with your application will result in lost consideration. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

How to apply

Please read the entire announcement and all the instructions before you begin an application. To apply for this position, you must complete the initial online application, to include the initial online assessment and submission of the required documentation specified in the Required Documents section below. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on the closing date of the announcement to receive consideration. The application process is as follows: PLEASE NOTE: If your materials are not received by the closing date, your application will be evaluated solely on the information available and you may not receive full consideration or may not be considered eligible. Also, if you do not provide a valid email address, you may not be notified of the outcome of your application. The application process is as follows: Click the Apply Online button. Answer the questions presented in the application and attach all necessary supporting documentation. Click the Submit Application button prior to 11:59 PM (ET) on the announcement closing date. If you are required to complete any USA Hire Assessments, you will be notified after submitting your application. The notification will be provided in your application submission screen and via email. The notification will include your unique assessment access link to the USA Hire system and the completion deadline. Additionally, in USAJOBS you can click "Track this application" to return to your assessment completion notice. Access USA Hire using your unique assessment link. Access is granted through your USAJOBS login credentials. Review all instructions prior to beginning your assessments. You will have the opportunity to request a testing accommodation before beginning the assessments should you have a disability covered under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended. Set aside about two (2) hours to take the USA Hire Assessments; however, most applicants complete the assessments in less time. If you need to stop the assessments and continue later, you can re-use your unique assessment link. Your responses to the USA Hire Assessments will be reused for one year (in most cases) from the date you complete an assessment. If future applications you submit require completion of the same assessments, your responses will be automatically reused. To update your application, including supporting documentation, at any time during the announcement open period, return to your USAJOBS account (https://my.usajobs.gov/Account/Login). There you will find a record of your application, the application status, and an option to Update Application. This option will no longer be available once the announcement has closed. To verify the status of your application both during and after the announcement open period, log into your USAJOBS account: https://my.usajobs.gov/Account/Login. All of your applications will appear on the Welcome page. The application record in your USAJOBS account provides an Additional Application Information page that provides information regarding the documentation you submitted and any correspondence we have sent related to this application. The Application Status will appear along with the date your application was last updated. For information on what each Application Status means, visit: https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/how-to/application/status/.