Collections Maintenance Technician (QA)

Summary

The Library of Congress shares its vast collections of books, manuscripts, photographs, maps, audiovisual materials, and priceless artifacts to cultivate curiosity and spark imagination. We engage, inspire, and inform Congress and the American people with a universal and enduring source of knowledge and creativity. We seek highly talented professionals to join a vibrant and collaborative community. Your work here will have lasting impact on the Library and its users well into the future.

Duties

• The position serves as a Collections Management Technician II and is located in the Stack Management Unit, Collections Maintenance and Stack Management Section, of the Collections Management Division (CMD), Preservation Directorate (PRES), Discovery and Preservation Services (DPS) within the Library Collections and Services Group (LCSG) at the Library of Congress (LC). As a Collection Management Technician, you will: Follow extensive library rules, procedures and operations, retrieve materials from the collection. Apply judgement in retrieving materials. Receive retrieval requests through a number of methods including paper call slips, Automated Call Slip (ACS) and/or other automated request systems. With some projects, follow general guidelines on what to pull, and must adhere to these guidelines which might include criteria such as item condition, date of publication, or format. Follow a number of established procedures and specific guidelines available in the form of extensive library procedures, rules, and operations, perform an array of activities involved in maintaining the collections, including ensuring that collections are in the proper order, safe from hazards and readily retrievable when requested. Use judgment to identify and select the most appropriate procedure to use, choose from among several established alternatives, or decide which precedent actions to follow as a model. Refer situations requiring significant judgment to the supervisor or others for guidance or resolution. Arrange, sort and re-shelve materials returned to the stacks according to the prescribed order for that portion of the collection. Maintain assigned areas to ensure that each item is in proper order according to collections management and maintenance guidelines for each collection. Frequent shelf reading of the collections, i.e., ensuring that the items on the shelves are in proper order, is a critical component of collections maintenance. Use multiple shelving and classification arrangements including LC Classification, fixed location arrangement and others utilized by CMD to ensure that collections are properly shelved, arranged and accessible for use. Use an in-depth or broad knowledge of a body of library regulations, procedures, and policies related collections retrieval to perform procedural duties or technical operation of limited scope and difficulty. Provide enhanced book retrieval service, including quick searches for all Not-on-Shelf (NoS) responses for patrons, staff and priority clients, primarily CRS staff and Congressional patrons. Identify and remove items suspected of containing errors in labeling and/or cataloging and forward items to the Preservation Directorate, the Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access Directorate, or other Library units for further determination or disposition. Utilize and operate the Library's automated material handling systems used to sort and process collections. Operate the equipment as well as perform preventative maintenance on the machine(s). Perform an array of preservation-related activities in support of stabilizing the collections and preventing further damage The position description number for this position is 429735. The salary range indicated reflects the locality pay adjustments for the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan area. The incumbent of this position will work a fixed work schedule (8:00am-4:30pm.) This is a non-supervisory, bargaining unit position. Relocation expenses will not be authorized for the person(s) selected under this vacancy announcement.

Qualifications

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. Knowledge of library collections maintenance practices and procedures.** Ability to use computerized databases and search tools.** Knowledge of proper library collection retrieval processes and procedures. Ability to plan work and meet deadlines. Ability to interact collaboratively with others. Ability to communicate effectively other than in writing.

Requirements

The work requires some physical exertion, such as long periods of standing; walking over rough, uneven, or rocky surfaces; recurring bending, crouching, stooping, stretching, reaching, or similar activities; or recurring lifting of moderately heavy items, such as books. Requires ability to perform moderate lifting-up to 44 pounds. Note: The incumbent must pass a pre-placement physical with a recurrence on duty physical every three years. Library of Congress employees are prohibited from using illegal drugs, including marijuana. The Library is part of the Federal Government and abides by federal law, so regardless of individual state or District of Columbia laws, marijuana use is illegal, considered criminal activity, and can affect your employment at the Library. In addition, past or current drug use and activities (e.g., selling or distributing) may deem you ineligible for employment.

Education

There are no education requirements for this position.

How to apply

Please carefully follow all instructions under the How to Apply tab to ensure you are considered for the position. Please note, there is no page restriction to your resume, and you are allowed to upload a resume longer than two pages in the resume section within the application process. When the application system prompts, please proceed to the agency site to complete your application. You are required to apply online for this announcement. We are unable to accept mailed or emailed documents. You must complete the entire application process, including submission of all documents BEFORE this announcement closes. To do so, complete the following steps. Step 1: If you do not already have one, create a resume and upload it to your profile in the "Resume" section. Although you must enter your Social Security Number for USAJOBS, this information will not be provided to the Library of Congress. Step 2: Review the Job Announcement. We recommend you go to the end of the Qualification and Evaluation section of the job announcement to preview the online questions that you will answer in Step 4. You may wish to customize your resume to ensure that it supports your responses to these questions. Step 3: Click on the "APPLY ONLINE" button to the right of this announcement. Follow USAJOBS' instructions to access your account. You will be redirected to the Hiring Management website to complete the application process. If this is your first time in Hiring Management, you will be asked to answer questions related to your eligibility for Federal employment. You will be able to update this information and save it to our account for future announcements. Step 4: Once you have completed the eligibility questions, you will be taken directly to the vacancy application questions. Answer all questions honestly and thoroughly. Step 5: Hiring Management offers one option that will electronically attach your documentation to your online application once you finish answering the questions in the job announcement. You may electronically upload a document directly from your computer to your application. Be certain to review your complete application for confirmation of the document uploaded and click on "Finished" to be returned to USAJOBS. IMPORTANT NOTE: If you have multiple documents of the same kind, e.g. 2 undergraduate transcripts from different schools or 2 SF-50s, etc., be sure that they are all in the same file on your computer. If you try uploading them individually, only the last one sent will be visible in our system. If you have any questions about this information, please contact the person on this announcement BEFORE the closing date. Step 6: Click on "Finish" after you have completed your application. Once you have submitted your application, you can check your status online through your Hiring Management or MY USAJOBS account. Your complete online application and any required supplemental documentation (e.g., SF-50, etc.) must be received by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on the closing date of the announcement. It is your responsibility to ensure that all documents are received on time and that the materials are readable. Failure to do so will result in your application being excluded from consideration for this announcement. If you are experiencing any technical difficulty with the online process, you MUST CONTACT THE POINT OF CONTACT FOR THIS ANNOUNCEMENT BEFORE THE CLOSING DATE. For all technical issues please contact [email protected] , no later than 4:00pm EST of the Closing Date. REQUESTS FOR EXTENSIONS WILL NOT BE GRANTED.