State of Maryland

An Archivist I is the full performance level of professional archival work.  Employees in this classification independently perform assigned aspects of technical work at the Maryland State Archives.  Employees in this classification must exercise considerable tact and judgment since the work requires frequent contact with persons seeking information from the Archives.  Employees in this classification are generally assigned a major project of the Archives and with respect to this project, they may perform historical research, editing, make public presentations, or be responsible for a series of records, government, or special collections.  Employees in this classification must demonstrate an appreciation of the significance of the Archives and its uses and be able to clearly communicate this significance to other parties.  Employees in this classification spend a considerable amount of time acting as an Archivist in the Search Room, on the telephone, and on email providing direct service to the general public, other government agencies and organizations, elected officials, and their staff. Employees in this classification may supervise Archival Assistants or other support staff.  

Employees in this classification receive general supervision from an Archivist Supervisor. Employees may work a rotating shift and may be required to work Saturdays. Work effectiveness is evaluated through review of in-person and online work with the public and other agencies, conferences, and review of written work products to determine quality, completeness, and timeliness of work assignments.   

Positions in this classification are evaluated using the classification job evaluation methodology.  The use of this method involves comparing the assigned duties and responsibilities of a position to the job criteria found in the Nature of Work and Examples of Work Sections of a class specification.  

The Archivist Trainee and the Archivist I are differentiated on the degree of supervisory control exercised by the supervisor over these employees.  The Archivist Trainee performs the duties under close supervision.  The Archivist I performs the full range of duties and responsibilities under general supervision.  The Archivist I is differentiated from the Archivist II in that the Archivist II leads, assigns, reviews, and approves the work of and trains lower-level Archivists or performs advanced-level duties.

Provides reference assistance to patrons in the public Search Room and by telephone, email, and by mail;

Serves on one or more ad-hoc teams or work groups formed to deal with specific issues;

Accesses, inventories, and shelves archival records;

Prepares finding aids for records series;

Prepares analyses and reports as assigned;

Prepares correspondence and answers inquiries concerning assigned projects;

Retrieves and returns archival materials to their proper storage location in the stacks;

Creates and maintains the electronic archives of born-digital and scanned image materials;

Conducts detailed research on a specific subject as assigned;

Represents the Archives before government groups, community organizations, school classes, genealogical and historical societies, and professional archival organizations;

Serves as point of contact for other government agencies and provide guidance on records issues and procedures;

Interacts with vendors;

Makes recommendations to supervisors on issues such as records appraisal, finding aid development, and project design;

Monitors the environment of physical plant and condition of holdings, appropriately maintains area, reports issues to higher level Archivists, and takes appropriate corrective action. 

Performs other related duties.

Knowledge of archival science;

Knowledge of archival principles and techniques;

Knowledge of the purpose and organization of a state archives;

Knowledge of material stored in an archives;

Knowledge of references and research methods used in compiling and organizing data;

Knowledge of the function and organization of state governments;

Ability to answer inquiries from the general public, public officials, and agencies by locating the information requested, organizing data, and preparing responses in letter or report form;

Ability to communicate with sufficient skill to explain to visitors and researchers how to locate records and use finding aids;

Ability to extract bibliographical information from publications;

Ability to edit materials for publication;

Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with the staff and public officials;

Ability to exercise patience and courtesy in dealing with the public.

Education: Graduation from an accredited high school or possession of a high school equivalency certificate.

Experience: Six years of experience in professional archival work with public records.

Notes:

1. Candidates may substitute the possession of a Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university and two years of professional archival experience for the required experience.

2. Candidates may substitute academic credit from an accredited college or university at the rate of thirty credit hours for each year for the required experience.

3.  Candidates may substitute two years of experience in the Archival Assistant series classification for required education and up to four years of the required experience.   

4. Candidates may substitute U.S. Armed Forces military service experience as a commissioned officer in Archivist classifications or Archivist specialty codes in the Library and Archives field of work on a year-for-year basis for the required experience.

Employees may be required to lift up to 50 pounds when record shipments arrive and climb ladders.  Employees in this classification must exercise caution during the retrieval and replacement of heavy volumes from library shelves, particularly when using library ladders.  Employees may work a rotating shift and may be required to work Saturdays. 

Class specifications are broad descriptions covering groups of positions used by various State departments and agencies. Position descriptions maintained by the using department or agency specifically address the essential job functions of each position.

This is a Skilled Service classification in the State Personnel Management System.  All positions in this classification are Skilled Service positions.  Some positions in Skilled Service classifications may be designated Special Appointment in accordance with the State Personnel and Pensions Article, Section 6-405, Annotated Code of Maryland.  

This classification is not assigned to a bargaining unit, as indicated by the designation of S (Supervisor), M (Manager), T (Agency Head), U (Board or Commission Member), W (Student), X (Used by Agency or Excluded by Executive Order), or Z (Confidential).  As provided by State Personnel and Pensions Article, Section 3-102, special appointment, temporary, contractual, supervisory, managerial, and confidential employees are excluded collective from bargaining.  Additionally, certain executive branch agencies are exempt from collective bargaining and all positions in those agencies are excluded from collective bargaining.

This classification is one level in a Non-Competitive Promotion (NCP) series.  NCP promotions are promotions by which employees may advance in grade and class level from trainee to full performance level in a classification series.  In order to be non-competitively promoted to the next level in an NCP series, an employee must: 1) perform the main purpose of the class, as defined by the Nature of Work section of the class specification; 2) receive the type of supervision defined in the class specification and 3) meet the minimum qualifications of the classification.