Statement of Work.pdf

Data Production Division (DPD), National Agricultural Library (NAL) Statement of Work for Smokey Bear Collection Project

I. Background

The National Agricultural Library (NAL) serves as the Nation’s chief agricultural library information resource and service. NAL houses a collection of over 8.5 million items on agriculture and related disciplines. As a national library, NAL develops and provides agricultural information products and services to agencies of the USDA and the Federal government, as well as public and private institutions and individuals worldwide.

The mission of the Data Production Division (DPD) is to acquire, maintain and provide access to the NAL collection in both its physical and digital forms.

The Special Collections Unit is responsible for acquiring, preserving, and providing access to specialized materials (including historic papers and rare books) documenting agricultural history. Special Collections provides information services to USDA personnel, researchers, scholars, and the public. Activities include preparing collections for public access, monitoring the use of rare and unique materials in the Special Collections reading room, and creating and participating in outreach opportunities through exhibits and tours.

II. Scope and Objectives

The National Agricultural Library requires the continuation of the project to establish and implement the curation and preservation of the U.S. Forest Service’s Smokey Bear Collection. This project includes developing a digital collection, configuring ArchivesSpace for management of that collection, producing digital and physical products in support of exhibition, outreach and networking with several related communities, and preparing for the 80th anniversary of the Smokey Bear program. This project is being conducted under a continuing inter-agency agreement between USDA National Forest Service and the National Agricultural Library.

The contractor shall provide services as described in this Statement of Work to support curation and preservation of the Smokey Bear collection and to improve access to collection materials. The contractor shall participate in customer service and reference activities to understand the needs of NAL’s researchers and better serve those needs when improving collection access points.

III. Specific Requirements

The contractor shall provide following services in support of the Smokey Bear Collection.

1. Write and implement a collection development and processing plan to expand and describe the Smokey Bear Collection.

2. Assess condition of materials and initiate repairs and/or digitization where needed.

3. Assess potential donations to collection and recommend whether to accept.

4. Document procedures for managing care and handling of collection, and for accessioning new materials into the collection.

5. Prepare documents needed to transfer or add collection materials and update collection administrative files to reflect changes/additions.

6. Accession new materials into the collection and update finding aids to reflect additions.

7. Organize, describe and create/update finding aids for unprocessed subsets of the collection.

8. Assess collection usage by monitoring researchers in the Special Collections reading room and answering customer information inquiries regarding collection.

9. Coordinate revision of online finding aid for the collection.

10. Prepare for and participate in tours and outreach; create displays of representative items from the collection and associated talking points.

11. Configure NAL’s ArchivesSpace implementation and create ArchivesSpace records for the collection.

IV. Operational Requirements

1. Contract staff must be able to obtain a LincPass ID (http://lincpass.usda.gov/non -Employees.html) and the Contractor shall be responsible for all expenses related to meeting LincPass security requirements.

2. Contractor shall conform to all NAL requirements for proper handling of collection materials and maintenance of work areas. The contractor shall attend NAL provided care and handling training before beginning work.

3. Contractor shall conform to all NAL, ARS, and USDA computer security and use policies. The contractor shall complete all computer use and security training required by NAL, ARS, and USDA.

V. Technical Capacity Required

• Master’s degree in library science and previous experience working in a special collections or archives.

• Expertise with configuring and using ArchivesSpace archival management system.

• Subject matter expertise related to the U.S. Forest Service’s Smokey Bear character and outreach campaigns and the related licensing/access issues.

• Professional experience and knowledge of the principles and practices of archival administration, description, and arrangement, and familiarity with current developments in processing procedures.

• Familiarity with library bibliographic records, the ability to interpret MARC records and experience working with research library collections

• Ability to lift and move books and manuscript boxes, to climb ladders to retrieve materials and to push book trucks.

http://lincpass.usda.gov/non

Data Production Division (DPD), National Agricultural Library (NAL) Statement of Work for Smokey Bear Collection Project

VI. Place and Period of Performance

Contractor personnel assigned to this project will perform their work at the National Agricultural Library and remotely, as necessary. A government computer will be provided when those providing service have been granted clearance to access NAL systems for the remainder of the period of performance. All project review meetings with NAL and contractor staff will be held at the NAL building unless instructed otherwise by the GTPOC and Project Team.

All contractor work performed onsite at NAL shall take place Monday through Friday between the hours of 7 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. The contractor will not have access to the NAL building outside of those hours without special permission from the GTPOC.

Period of performance: 10/2/2022 to 10/1/2023.

VII. Deliverables

Deliverable Schedule Status report of progress on the Smokey Bear collection

Quarterly

Documented procedures for managing care and handling of collection, and for accessioning new materials into the collection

Complete by the end of the period of performance

Monthly report of activities Monthly

Deliverables shall be completed throughout the contract period. The Contractor shall provide the Project Manager with a monthly report detailing activities performed, activities planned for the following period, and any issues that need to be addressed by the project manager and other team members. This report shall be submitted by the 10th business day of the next month. The Contractor shall modify or rectify any deliverables that do not meet NAL’s requirements.