Intermittent Administrative Assistant (IS-0341-07)

Job Type: Location Type: On-site

 

Intermittent Administrative Assistant (IS-0341-07)

Application Deadline: 27 March 2026

Department: National Museum of Asian Art

Employment Type: Temporary

Location: Washington, DC

Reporting To: Senior Associate Director for Research

Compensation: $27.66 / hour

Description

OPEN DATE: March 16, 2026

CLOSING DATE: March 27, 2026

POSITION TYPE: Trust Fund

APPOINTMENT TYPE: Temporary NTE 1 year

SCHEDULE: Intermittent

DUTY LOCATION: Washington, DC

Position sensitivity and risk:Non Sensitive/Low Risk

Open to all qualified applicants

What are Trust Fund Positions?

Trust Fund positions are unique to the Smithsonian. They are paid for from a variety of sources, including the Smithsonian endowment, revenue from our business activities, donations, grants and contracts. Trust employees are not part of the civil service, nor does trust fund employment lead to Federal status. The salary ranges for trust positions are generally the same as for federal positions and in many cases trust and federal employees work side by side. Trust employees have their own benefit program, which may include Health, Dental & Vision Insurance, Life Insurance, Transit/Commuter Benefits, Accidental Death and Dismemberment Insurance, Annual and Sick Leave, Family Friendly Leave, 403b Retirement Plan, Discounts for Smithsonian Memberships, Museum Stores and Restaurants, Credit Union, Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center (Child Care), Flexible Spending Account (Health & Dependent Care).

Conditions of Employment

• Pass Pre-employment Background Check and Subsequent Background Investigation for position designated.
• Complete a Probationary Period.
• Maintain a Bank Account for Direct Deposit/Electronic Transfer.
• The position is open to all candidates eligible to work in the United States. Proof of eligibility to work in U.S. is not required to apply.
• Applicants must meet all qualification and eligibility requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement.

OVERVIEW

Through an ambitious program of collection, conservation, exhibitions, programming, and research, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art serves as a global and national resource for understanding the arts and cultures of Asia and their interaction with America, past and present. By presenting the arts and cultures of Asia in their extraordinary diversity, we aim to exemplify foundational ideals of curiosity, creativity, and respect. In a world growing ever more interdependent, we believe that cross-cultural understanding is crucial to personal and collective well-being.

NMAA opened in 1923 as America’s first national art museum and the first Asian art museum in the United States. The museum now stewards one of the world’s most important collections of Asian art, with works dating from antiquity to the present, from China, Japan, Korea, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the pre-Islamic Near East, and the Islamic world (inclusive of Central Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa). The museum also stewards an important collection of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century American art.

Today, NMAA is emerging as a leading national and global resource for understanding the arts, cultures, and societies of Asia, especially at their intersection with America. Guided by the belief that the future of art museums lies in collaboration, increased access, and transparency, NMAA is fostering new ways to engage with its audiences while maintaining its commitment to excellence.

NMAA celebrated its centennial in 2023 and is determined to make the museum’s second century as accomplished as its first. The museum is building on its core strengths-the quality and depth of our collections, scholarship, and conservation-while embracing experimentation and new approaches to its work. The museum is transforming digitally, physically, and programmatically to draw in new audiences to celebrate, learn, and connect with Asian and American art and cultures, past and present.

Located on the National Mall in Washington, DC, the museum is free and open 364 days a year. The Smithsonian, which is the world’s largest museum complex, welcomes twenty to thirty million visitors yearly. For more information about the National Museum of Asian Art, please visit asia.si.edu

The Opportunity
The Freer Research Center (FRC) Intermittent Administrative Assistant plays a pivotal role in providing support for our library services. This versatile role offers exposure to diverse library functions including cataloging, acquisition, interlibrary loan, patron services, and collection management. The incumbent will work closely with the NMAA team while helping to steward a world-class collection of Asian art resources.

The National Museum of Asian Art Library is regarded as one of the premier repositories of Asian art resources in North America. It supports the activities of the museum and the broader Smithsonian, including collection development, exhibition planning, publications, and other scholarly and educational projects. Additionally, this library serves as a vital resource for visiting fellows and international researchers, who utilize the library’s non-circulating core collections through an active schedule of in-person appointments.

Approximately half of the collection comprises works in Chinese or Japanese. While the library primarily focuses on Asian art and archaeology, it also includes publications about American artists active in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries whose works are housed in the Freer Gallery of Art.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
• General office support.
• Processing items returned to the library.
• Shelving and reshelving items.
• Making photocopies or scans upon requests.
• Conducting copy cataloging in OCLC.
• Checking in monographs and serials including those in Chinese, Japanese and Korean in the Horizon database.
• Processing invoices.
• Shifting books as needed in the stacks.
• Processing interlibrary loan requests.
• Assisting patrons with research inquiries, locating resources, and providing information on library policies and procedures.
• Checking in and checking out materials to library patrons.
• Enforcing departmental policies.

QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS

To qualify for this position, you must have one (1) year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-05 level in the Federal service that demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform the duties of the position. Specialized experience is experience performing administrative and/or management support functions such as coordinating office operations; tracking information, time and attendance, purchases, or service requests; maintaining administrative records and files; preparing routine correspondence and reports; and providing customer service to internal and external stakeholders.

In lieu of specialized experience, you may qualify based on education: one (1) full year of graduate-level education in a field related to the position OR completion of a bachelor’s degree. A combination of education and specialized experience may also be used to meet this requirement.

Education completed outside the United States must be deemed equivalent to higher education programs of U.S. Institutions by an organization that specializes in the interpretation of foreign educational credentials. This documentation is the responsibility of the applicant and should be included as part of your application package.

Any false statement in your application may result in rejection of your application and may also result in termination after employment begins.

Join us in “Inspiring Generations through Knowledge and Discovery.”

Resumes should include a description of your paid and non-paid work experience that is related to this job; starting and ending dates of job (month and year); and average number of hours worked per week.

What To Expect Next: Once the vacancy announcement closes, a review of your resume will be compared against the qualification and experience requirements related to this job. After review of applicant resumes is complete, qualified candidates will be referred to the hiring manager.

Relocation expenses are not paid.

The Smithsonian Institution provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities where appropriate. Applicants requiring reasonable accommodation should contact nmaa-hr@si.edu. Determinations on requests for reasonable accommodation will be made on a case-by-case basis. To learn more, please review the Smithsonian’s Accommodation Procedures.

The Smithsonian Institution is an Equal Opportunity Employer. To review The Smithsonian’s EEO program information, please click the following: https://www.si.edu/oeo