State of Maryland

An Archivist II is the lead/advanced level of professional archival work.  Employees in this classification independently perform the technical aspects of archival work involving such major activities as compiling and editing the Maryland Manual, supervising the Maryland State Archives Search Room, leading space management and records transfer programs, or preparing finding aids for a series of records. Employees in this classification are expected to provide service to the public or other government agencies or organizations by answering complex inquiries concerning their areas of expertise. Employees in this classification do not supervise.

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 a review of in-person and online work with the public and other agencies, conferences, and a review of written work products to determine the 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 II is differentiated from the Archivist I in that the Archivist II assigns, reviews, and approves the work of and trains lower-level Archivists or performs advanced-level work under general supervision while the Archivist I performs the full range of duties and responsibilities under general supervision.  The Archivist II is differentiated from the Archivist Supervisor in that the Archivist Supervisor has supervisory full responsibility for lower-level Archivists.

When functioning at the Lead Level: 

Leads, assigns, reviews, and approves the work of lower-level Archivists and may supervise others on specific assignments or projects;

Trains lower-level Archivists;

When functioning at the Advanced Level:

Responsible for program/project management within Archives’ Departments, such as Reference Services, Appraisal and Description, Digital Acquisition, Processing, and Publication, Constituent and Inter-Agency Services, Research, Education, and Outreach; 

Leads advanced/in-depth projects, such as processing projects or scanning projects; equipment and software evaluation, and best practices research;

Leads interdepartmental work groups to address agency-wide issues, provides reporting of results to supervisor and administrative team;

Assigned to represent the agency in areas of specialized expertise, such as military research or African American heritage. 

Both Lead/Advanced:

Performs archival records appraisal and description functions including compilation and editing of information resources such as the Guide to Government Records as well as finding aids and record series descriptions;

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 the 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 expert archival principles, practices, and procedures;

Knowledge of the purpose and organization of State Archives;

Knowledge of the material stored in an archives; 

Knowledge of reference and research methods used in compiling, organizing, and analyzing data;

Knowledge of the methods used in editing and publishing books and articles;

Knowledge of the organization of State governments;

Ability to instruct lower-level Archivists in the technical aspects of archival work;

Ability to prepare 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, public officials, and people seeking information from the Archives.

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

Experience: Eight 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 four 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 from collective bargaining.  Additionally, certain executive branch agencies are exempt from collective bargaining and all positions in those agencies are excluded from collective bargaining.