Summary
This position is within the staff of the Deputy Director (DD) in the Library Reader Services Department (DLR) of the National Gallery of Art (NGA). The purpose of this position is to oversee and provide a variety of interlibrary loan (ILL) services as well as reference and reader services to NGA curatorial and administrative staff, CASVA staff and fellows, and organizations and indivuduals outside the Gallery.
Duties
The incumbent:
- Processes ILL requests received from other libraries
- Verifies NGA Library holdings, checks current ILL policy for circulation status and physical condition of requested material, and acknowledges the requests via international databases such as OCLC, and following established ALA procedures
- Prepares materials for shipment and ensures their timely return; follows up on all outstanding loans by communicating with borrowers by telephone, fax, and regular or electronic mail
- Processes ILL requests to libraries other than the Library of Congress
- Verifies bibliographic citations in European foreign languages found in printed or online sources, locates appropriate lending libraries, and places requests using procedures established by bibliographic utilities, or ALA
- Explains ILL services to patrons and instructs them in the methodology of verifying requests
- Maintains effective working relationships with libraries throughout the United States in order to ensure responsive ILL service to Gallery staff
- Assists in the establishment of procedures for handling ILL loan transactions, including the maintenance of records and compiles ILL statistics and prepares monthly and special reports
- Assists NGA staff and CASVA fellows in searching print and online resources for potential interlibrary loans; performs complex and difficult searches for rare, obscure, or other hard-to-find volumes and
- Assists staff in identifying and interpreting bibliographic records found in print and online indexes.
- Reader Services and Reference tasks include:
- Discusses research needs of outside potential readers through application of professionally accepted reference interview techniques; explains and interprets policy on library use and refers readers to other libraries when appropriate
- Admits and registers outside readers according to established Library guidelines, and provides orientation to public areas
- Assists Gallery staff, CASVA fellows, and outside readers in the use of the Library’s online resources, including the Library’s online catalog
- Answers reference questions received by telephone, letter, or in person from simple questions answerable from ready reference tools to complex questions requiring extended research in the Library’s collections and outside sources
- Performs literature searches in response to staff requests using the Library’s print, microform, non-print, and vertical file collections
- Assists with the preparation of updates to the Reader Services department’s orientation materials
- Participates in the development of the Library’s reference and general collections by referring ILL requests to the Reader Services Librarian for possible acquisition
- Organizes and maintains Reference Office files; reviews exhibition announcements and maintains the collection of current bulletins and announcements from other institutions throughout the nation and selected European institutions and
- Compiles monthly reference statistics and prepares special statistical reports as requested.
Qualifications
SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: Applicants must have a minimum of one year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility comparable to the next lower grade or comparable pay band in the Federal service or equivalent experience in the private sector.
Candidates must meet the Qualification Standards Handbook requirements for the GS-1410-9. This requires at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-7 level in the Federal service OR two full years of progressively higher level graduate education or Master’s degree in library science which has been supplemented by coursework in both art history and Western European languages such as Italian, French, Dutch, German, and/or Spanish. Specialized experience is defined as professional librarianship experience that has involved performing interlibrary loan and reference services within a research environment which required knowledge of art history and Western European languages such as Italian, French, Dutch, German, and/or Spanish to perform work assignments. Equivalent combinations of education and experience are qualifying for this grade level.
Candidates must reflect in their submitted USAJOBS résumés the possession of this specialized experience. If their résumés do not include such specialized experience, they will be ineligible for this position.
Those applicants who meet the minimum qualification requirements will be evaluated against these factors to determine the best-qualified candidates. Candidates should ensure their résumé and submitted materials clearly demonstrate possession of these factors to receive maximum employment consideration.
- Knowledge of bibliographic searching methods, including obscure materials and foreign language publications, often from incomplete or inaccurate citations.
- Knowledge of the literature of art history and humanities, particularly sources of information, bibliographic tools, reference works, and specialized subject collections.
- Knowledge of the content and search methodology of highly specialized online bibliographic, periodical, image, and full-text databases.
- Reading knowledge of at least two Western European languages, (preferably Italian and French) and familiarity with art historical and bibliographic terminology in the remaining major European languages.
- Knowledge of procedures for ILL operations. At least one year of experience using Illiad, Adobe Acrobat, and automated bibliographic systems such as OCLC and Voyager.
Deadline to apply: December 2, 2016
Full post: https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/456838800/