Museum Technician (General)

This position is located in Thomas Edison National Historic Park, in the Northeast Region.

• This is a term position (more than 1 year) with an initial appointment expecting to last at least 13 months but may be extended up to a total of four years. Term positions do not convey permanent status in the Federal service.

Open to the first 50 applicants or until 05/03/2024 whichever comes first. All applications submitted by 11:59 (EST) on the closing day will receive consideration.This is a term position (more than 1 year) with an initial appointment expecting to last at least 13 months but may be extended up to a total of four years, or more based on any changes to regulations governing the number of years term appointments may last, without further competition. Term positions do not convey permanent status in the Federal service.

The National Park Service retains the right to extend the duration of this appointment after selection and/or appointment, based on changes to the regulation governing the number of years term appointments may last. This change, which may be made at the agency's sole discretion and without further competition, shall not be construed or interpreted as the granting of a right to a selectee or employee to such an extension. No extension to a term appointment shall be granted to a selectee/employee to an amount of time that exceeds the maximum number of years authorized under any present or current regulation, unless such regulation expressly allows such action.

Thomas Edison National Historical Park preserves the work and character of the famous American inventor, Thomas Alva Edison, and the family, friends, business associates, and employees who played key roles in his success. The park is comprised of the last and largest of Edison's laboratory complexes, as well as Glenmont, the Edison family home. Located in West Orange, New Jersey, the red brick laboratory complex is the site of research that led to the first successful sound recordings, phonographs, and motion picture cameras.

The park's museum collection is the product of Edison's sixty-year career as an inventor, manufacturer, businessman, and private citizen. It is by far the largest single body of Edison-related material extant and is the third-largest collection in the National Park Service with more than five million individual items. Housed both at the laboratory complex and the Glenmont estate, they include history artifacts ranging from laboratory equipment to experimental models, archives documenting Edison's work and life, and natural history holdings.Major duties include, but are not limited to the following:

• Catalogs museum collections according to National Park Service Museum Collection guidelines.

• Maintains museum records, including accession, catalog, and loan records, in accordance with National Park Service standards.

• Implements housekeeping program and monitors the environment of the collection storage and exhibit areas by keeping records on temperature, relative humidity, and pest infestation.

• Handles, cleans, stores, and labels objects in the museum collection.

• Serves as team member, and at times a team leader, on curatorial projects such as the elimination of cataloging backlogs; photo documentation of collections; or the reorganization of storage areas.

All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement-05/03/2024-unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement.

Credit will be given for all appropriate qualifying experience. To receive credit for experience, your resume MUST clearly indicate the nature of the duties and responsibilities for each position, starting and ending dates of employment (month/year), and the resume must reflect full and/or part-time or total number of hours worked (i.e., work 40+ hours a week, rather than indicating full-time). If part-time, the hours must be annotated to be able to pro-rate the amount of qualified specialized experience.

To qualify for this position at the GS-07 grade level, you must possess at least one of the following minimum qualifications by close of the announcement:

EXPERIENCE: At least one full year of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the GS-05 grade level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors) that equipped me with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities to perform successfully the duties of a Museum Technician.

Specialized experience is experience related to the operation or management of a museum or similar collection of valuable objects. Examples of qualifying specialized experience include collections management, registration, cataloging, research, preservation, restoration, or conservation of collections of museum material, or other experience related to the position to be filled. This experience includes activities such as: unpacking, processing, and repacking museum objects; identifying, labeling, and preparing objects for storage or display; cataloging objects into a museum database; preparing, maintaining, and organizing curatorial records; performing routine cleaning of museum objects per established standards; assisting with installation, repair, and rehabilitation of exhibits. You must include hours per week worked.

• OR-

EDUCATION: Successful completion of at least one year of graduate level education (18 semester hours, 27 quarter hours or equivalent) with coursework related to the duties of the position.

Related fields of study include art, history, museum studies, scientific subjects, or other courses related to the position to be filled. You must include transcripts.

• OR-

Successful completion of a combination of education and experience as described above. To combine education and experience, first calculate your percentage of qualifying graduate education by dividing your number of semester hours by 18 or the number your school uses to represent one year of full time graduate academic study.

Then take the number of months of full-time experience and divide by 12 months. Add the percentages together. The total must equal at least 100 percent to qualify.

For example, 6 months of specialized experience (50% of the specialized experience listed above) and one-half year of graduate level education in coursework related to the field (9 semester hours or 14 quarter hours equaling 50% of the education listed above) would qualify an applicant for this position. You must include transcripts.

Volunteer Experience: 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.