Librarian

Summary

This position, Data Services and Research Engagement Librarian, is located in Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Central Office, Digital Health Office (DHO). The incumbent contributes to achieving the VHA strategic priorities by providing access to digital knowledge-based information in support of clinical and administrative decision making while implementing activities associated with the services, programs, and products provided by the Central Office Library.

Duties

Represents the VA on interagency committees and at national, regional, and local conferences of library, information, and knowledge management services to discuss user needs, program objectives, information exchange, and areas of cooperation and coordination. Coordinates services and consultations for best practices in tracking and communicating the impact of VA-funded research. Advises researchers and other VA staff about the scholarly communication process and visualization tools to present VA-funded research output and federal open-access compliance. Oversees activities relating to scholarly publications, including open access, citation services, predatory publishing, and institutional repositories. Assists with collection control, access and maintenance of the library's online, print, audiovisual and microfilm collections. Develops systems of metadata tags to organize vast data pools to provide useful and meaningful information to policy makers, cutting edge researchers, and VISNs. Develops and implements cataloging criteria for classifying new and changing fields of vast knowledge utilized by all of VA Central Office and program offices. Supports Digital Health Office in areas including, but not limited to patient privacy, health care security, and information/health literacy. Stays current on best practices, new trends, and developments in librarianship through collaboration and communication with informational professionals and the scholarly literature. Provides research instructions, demonstrations, orientations, and other trainings to VA staff through both in-person and virtual formats. Develops instructional, outreach, and other support service materials. Provides expert searching, reference, informational, and consultation services to researchers, clinicians, and staff. Provides reference services to senior and executive level staff, national subject matter experts, and agency advisory committee members in all areas of Veterans' affairs, including clinical care, hospital and health care administration, Veterans' benefits, public administration, Veterans' history, and other fields. Promotion Potential: The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met. Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 8:00am-4:30pm Telework: This position may be authorized for ad hoc telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process. Ad hoc is defined as occasional, non-recurring telework. Virtual: This position may be authorized for Virtual Work. Virtual Work eligibility is for current VA employees that are already subject to the return to the in-person work mandate in their current position. Definition of Virtual Work: Employee works outside of original hiring duty station at a VA-owned or leased space. Return to Office (RTO): RTO mandates are in effect and selectees will be required to report to in-person work unless they are approved for an exception or an exemption. Any approval for an RTO exception, exemption, or extension will happen after a tentative job offer, but before a final job offer. Position Description/PD#: Librarian/PD765050 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized PCS Appraised Value Offer (AVO): Not Authorized Requirements

You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and questionnaire, this position requires an online assessment. The online assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the job. Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959 Physical Requirements: The work required does not inherently include any physical requirements essential for successful job performance that could not otherwise be performed with accommodation or workplace adjustment. A pre-placement physical examination is not required. Subject to background/security investigation Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment. Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP) As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider: your performance and conduct; the needs and interests of the agency; whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service. Upon completion of your probationary period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest. Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 10/13/2026. Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-12 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-11. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade. Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment. Individual Occupational Requirements Basic Requirement: Applicants MUST meet the Basic Requirement to qualify for this position PLUS meet the minimum qualifications as described below. All librarians must meet the requirements for professional education library science or possess equivalent experience and education as shown in A or B: A. Completion of 1 full academic year of graduate study in library science from an accredited college or university, in addition to completion of all work required for a bachelor's degree. NOTE: You must submit transcripts with your application. Education will not be credited without documentation. -OR- B. A total of at least 5 years of a combination of college-level education, training, and experience. To qualify on this basis, you must establish conclusively that the education, training, and experience provided a knowledge and understanding of the theories, principles, and techniques of professional librarianship; a knowledge of literature resources; and the knowledge and abilities essential for providing effective library and information services. NOTE: You must submit transcripts with your application. Education will not be credited without documentation. Experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start/end dates AND hours worked per week. AND To qualify for this position, you must meet the below requirements: GS-12 Specialized Experience - Applicants must possess at least one (1) full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level (GS-111) in the Federal Service that has given you the particular knowledge, skills and abilities required to successfully perform the duties of a Librarian. Specialized experience includes: Provide expert reference, research services and consultation services to researchers, clinicians and staff Solves highly complex problems pertaining to scholarly publications Provides research orientations and trainings to staff through in-person and virtual formats Develops instructional materials and website services Current on best practices, new trends and developments in librarianship through collaboration and communication For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.

Education

There is no educational substitution at this grade level. A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education. Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/. How You Will Be Evaluated

Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials (e.g., resume, supporting documents), your responses on the application questionnaire, and your responses to all assessments required for this position. You will be assessed on the following Competencies for this position: Communication - Expresses information (for example, ideas or facts) to individuals or groups effectively, taking into account the audience and nature of the information (for example, technical, sensitive, controversial); makes clear and convincing presentations; listens to others, attends to nonverbal cues, and responds appropriately. Manages and Organizes Information - Identifies a need; gathers, organizes, and maintains information; determines its importance and accuracy, and communicates it in a variety of methods. Organizational Awareness - Knows the organization's mission and functions, and how it's social, political, and technological systems work and operates effectively with them, this includes the programs, policies, procedures, rules, and regulations of the organization. Teaching Others - Helps others learn through formal and informal methods; identifies training needs, coaches others how to perform a task. Technical Competency - Uses knowledge that is acquired by formal training or extensive on the job training to preform one's job; works with, understands, and evaluations technical information related to the job; advises other on technical issues. Your experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start/end dates AND hours worked per week. A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment. IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration. Cheating on the online assessment may also result in your removal from consideration. 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; religions; 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. During the application process you may have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who have similar positions. Opting in does not impact your application for this announcement, nor does it guarantee further consideration for additional positions. Other Information

Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act. Reasonable Accommodation (RA) Requests: If you believe you have a disability (i.e., physical or mental), covered by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended that would interfere with completing the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be granted the opportunity to request a RA in your online application. Requests for RA for the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments and appropriate supporting documentation for RA must be received prior to starting the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments. Decisions on requests for RA are made on a case-by-case basis. If you meet the minimum qualifications of the position, after notification of the adjudication of your request, you will receive an email invitation to complete the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, based on your adjudication decision. You must complete all assessments within 48 hours of receiving the URL to access the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments if you received the link after the close of the announcement. To determine if you need a RA, please review the Procedures for Requesting a Reasonable Accommodation for Online Assessments. This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies. The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation (a copy of the agency notice, your most recent performance rating, and your most recent SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty location) and be found well-qualified for this vacancy. To be well-qualified: applicants must possess experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors, and who are proficient in most of the required competencies of the job. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/.