Job posting
Job Title: Supervisory Technical Information Specialist
Agency: Library of Congress
Job Announcement Number: 140145
Open Period: Tuesday, January 6, 2015 to Friday, February 6, 2015
Salary Range: $126,245 to $158,700
Series & Grade: GS-1412-15
Position Information: OPEN – Permanent
Promotion Potential: 15
Duty Locations: 1 vacancy in the following location: Washington, DC, US
Who May Apply: Anyone may apply – By law, employment at most U.S. Government agencies, including the Library of Congress, is limited to U.S. citizens. However, non-citizens may be hired, provided that other legal requirements are met and the Library determines there are no qualified U.S. citizens available for the position.
Supervisory Status: Yes
Job Summary
This position is located in Library Services, Collections and Services, Federal Research Division (FRD).
The Federal Research Division is the fee-for-service, full-cost-recovery research, translation, and analysis service of the Library of Congress. FRD administers the Federal Research Program that provides research reports, translations, and analytical studies for entities of the Federal Government and the District of Columbia.
The incumbent is the top management official of the FRD and is responsible for overseeing the planning, development, control, and administration of the research, production, marketing, fiscal, and administrative activities necessary to ensure a viable and efficiently managed fee-for-service program.
The position description number for this position is 129326.
The salary range indicated reflects the locality pay adjustments for the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan area.
The incumbent of this position will work a flextime work schedule.
This is a supervisory, non-bargaining unit position.
Travel Required: Not required
Relocation Authorized: No
Duties
Provides supervisory oversight of a group of employees, some of whom perform at the GS-14 level. Provides administrative and technical supervision necessary for accomplishing the work of the Division. Performs the administrative and supervisory personnel management functions relative to the staff supervised. Establishes guidelines and performance expectations for staff, which are clearly communicated through the formal employee performance management system. Observes workers’ performance and conducts work performance critiques. Provides informal feedback and periodically evaluates employee performance. Resolves informal complaints and grievances. Develops work improvement plans, recommending personnel actions as necessary. Provides advice and counsel to workers related to work and administrative matters. Effects disciplinary measures appropriate to the authority delegated in this area. Reviews and approves or disapproves leave requests. Ensures subordinates are trained and fully comply with safety regulations.
Responsible for furthering the goals of equal employment opportunity (EEO) by taking positive steps to adhere to nondiscriminatory employment practices in regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, and disability. Specifically, initiates nondiscriminatory practices for the area under his/her supervision in the following: (1) merit promotion of employees and recruitment and hiring of applicants; (2) fair treatment of all; (3) encouragement and recognition of employee achievements; (4) career development of employees; and (5) full utilization of their skills.
Plans, develops, and implements program/project development activities that affect broad mission areas. Oversees implementation of the research agenda, including approaches, frameworks, or methodologies for addressing policy and legislative issues within the FRD’s areas of responsibility. Sets research priorities for supervisors and staff. In collaboration with other managers, ensures coverage of all issues identified via Federal client agency requests. Aligns resources allocated to the Division as necessary to ensure coverage. Continually assesses the Division’s overall performance in meeting needs of the Division’s clients and the priorities, goals, and policies of the organization for meeting those needs. Ensures all aspects of the Division are operating efficiently and effectively.
Develops, conceives, plans, and implements policies and guidelines affecting broad, emerging, and/or critical Library programs. Translates new legislation into program goals, actions, and policies, interpreting the impact of new legislative requirements on Library programs. Recognized as an agency authority in formulating new policies and program objectives that have a broad or long-range impact on one or more significant programs of the Library. Provides management and consulting services to top executives of the Library on change management and internal business process improvements to improve the effectiveness of major Library operations and functions.
Establishes and maintains effective working relationships with various high-level individuals, including Federal and District of Columbia agency senior and mid-level managers and their staffs, managers of Federal contractors, and members of the public. Establishes and maintains close and cooperative working relationships with Library of Congress and its service unit management and officials, Federal government agencies (other than the Congress), and other institutions with related interests, in order to advance the programs and objectives of the Library of Congress and the Federal Research Program.
Serves as the primary Library advisor on programs and events relevant to fee-for-service research, translation, and analysis. Advises on the appropriate methods and techniques to use in order to achieve program goals and objectives. Serves on interagency, national, and/or international special working groups, task forces, and expert panels on special projects or studies critical to the resolution of far-reaching operating issues and problems.
Qualifications Required
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.
- Ability to develop, analyze, and apply research principles, methodologies, and organizational structures to plan, conduct and evaluate studies in technical subjects.**
- Ability to initiate, analyze, and manage a current or anticipated diverse portfolio of research programs and projects.**
- Ability to collaborate, provide consultation and liaison duties.**
- Ability to manage, develop and lead a diverse workforce.**
- Ability to communicate in writing.
- Ability to communicate other than in writing.
The Supervisor leads his/her staff toward meeting the Library’s vision, mission, and goals by acting decisively, leveraging diversity and inclusiveness, demonstrating flexibility and resilience, fostering continuous improvement and innovation, and fostering integrity and honesty. To view the Library’s Supervisory Core Competencies click the following link: http://www.loc.gov/hr/employment/uploads/loc_supervisor_core_competencies.pdf.
How You Will Be Evaluated
The Library of Congress evaluates applicants through an applicant questionnaire and a structured interview. Applicants may also be screened for some jobs through licensing, certification, and/or education requirements, a narrative/application review, and/or a preliminary telephone interview. The knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) that are marked with a double asterisk (**) in the vacancy announcement and the applicant questionnaire are considered the most critical for a position. To be considered for final selection, applicants must demonstrate fully acceptable experience in these designated KSAs in the narrative/application review, preliminary telephone and/or full structured interview. The various assessment tools listed above are designed to verify or explore applicants’ experience, knowledge, and training directly related to the job in order to identify the best qualified applicants for selection.
To preview questions please click here.
Benefits
You can review our benefits at: http://www.loc.gov/hr/employment/index.php
Other Information
Although it is the Library’s policy to afford the maximum pay benefit to employees when setting rates of pay, a new appointee who has had no previous Federal service will generally be paid the minimum step of the grade.
The Library of Congress is an equal opportunity employer. Women, minorities, and persons with disabilities who meet eligibility requirements are strongly encouraged to apply.
Applicants must submit a complete application package that is received by the closing date of this announcement.
This agency provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process, please notify the agency. The decision on granting reasonable accommodation will be on a case-by-case basis.
Applicants with disabilities may be considered under special hiring procedures and must submit an appropriate certificate of disability when applying for this position. The certificate of disability may be issued by a State Vocational Rehabilitation Office, Disability Services or Career Services office of an applicant’s college or university, or the Department of Veterans Affairs. The date of certification must be within one year of the vacancy closing date and must be submitted with your application.
For more information view the Library of Congress’ Selective Placement Program and/or contact the Library’s Office of Inclusiveness & Compliance at 202-707-6024 (voice or TTY) or spp@loc.gov. FAILURE TO SUBMIT YOUR CERTIFICATION WILL CAUSE YOUR APPLICATION TO NOT BE CONSIDERED UNDER THE SELECTIVE PLACEMENT PROGRAM.
The Library of Congress is the national library of the United States and is part of the Legislative Branch of the Federal government. As such, all positions are in the excepted service.
Appointment/retention is subject to a favorable evaluation of an appropriate personnel security/suitability investigation.
Initial appointments, permanent or indefinite, to the Library of Congress require completion of a one-year probationary period. In addition, per Library of Congress Regulation 2010-12, an appointee or internal selectee is subject to a one-year supervisory probationary period, if this is his/her first supervisory/managerial position at the Library.
The selected applicant may be required to file a financial disclosure statement with the House of Representatives, U.S. Congress, in accordance with the provisions of Public Law 95-521, Ethics in Government Act of 1978.
Are you a veteran? Please indicate the type of veterans’ preference you are claiming in your application materials and/or applicant profile and provide the appropriate supporting documentation to validate your claim. Those applying for 5-point preference must submit Member Copy 4 of your DD 214. Those applying for 10-point preference must fill out an SF-15 (click here for the form) and provide the required documentation listed on the back of the form. If required supporting documentation is not attached, Veterans’ Preference will not be considered in the application process. For more information regarding eligibility requirements, please see the Library of Congress Merit Selection Plan, Section X.D.
How to Apply
Please carefully follow all instructions under the How to Apply tab to ensure you are considered for the position.
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 on USAJOBS. 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 USAJOBS 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 and submit your resume. 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 three options that will electronically attach your documentation to your online application once you finish answering the questions in the job announcement.
- You may select a document that you have already uploaded to USAJOBS for a previous 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.
- You may follow the “Faxing Supporting Documentation” instructions within the online application, which will provide the necessary cover sheets for each of your documents so that they will be correctly submitted. The fax number will be available on the cover sheet.
Please note that each cover sheet and corresponding document must be faxed separately. Be certain to review your complete fax transmittal confirmation to ensure that all pages have been received.
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 or in your USAJOBS profile before uploading them. If you try uploading them individually, only the last one sent will be visible in our system. Likewise, if sending them by fax, be sure and include both of them behind the respective fax cover sheet and send them as one fax. If you send them individually with the same cover sheet, the last one sent will overwrite the first one. Finally, if you upload a document, e.g. your undergraduate transcript, do not also fax that same document (or fax another undergraduate transcript), because whichever one you send last will be the only one that is 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 jobhelp@loc.gov, no later than 4:30pm EST of the Closing Date. REQUESTS FOR EXTENSIONS WILL NOT BE GRANTED.
Required Documents
Current or former federal employees must submit their most recent Notification of Personnel Action (SF-50 or equivalent). Disabled applicants claiming Selective Placement eligibility must submit proof of disability and a certification of job readiness. If Selective Placement is applicable to you, you will not be considered without submitting this documentation.
Agency Contact Info
HR Customer Service Center
Phone: 202.707.5627
Email: JobHelp@loc.gov
Agency Information:
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
101 Independence Ave. SE
LM-107
Washington, DC 20540
US
What to Expect Next
Please review our evaluation process under Evaluation. You may check the status of your application for this position at any time by logging onto the USAJOBS “My USAJOBS” tab and clicking on “My Applications.” You will receive final notification via e-mail when the vacancy has been filled.
