NASA’s Rocky History Of Library Closures; NASA Watch, January 3, 2026

 Keith Cowing, NASA Watch; NASA’s Rocky History Of Library Closures

"Keith’s note: NASA has been closing its libraries for a long time. Budgetary and building issues are usually the prime reason. Usually, stuff gets moved around and put in storage for years until the storage costs mount and then a portion ends up in someone’s library – somewhere – and the rest gets shipped to some generic GSA warehouse – or thrown away. Now it is GSFC’s turn to go through this painful process – not only with their collection but also the NASA HQ library that was moved there when the HQ library was converted to a visitor center. They have assured NASA HQ that nothing valuable will be lost. NASA’s record in this regard is somewhat rocky. More below.

To be certain, a lot of the material is already online at places like The  NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) or the Internet Archive or university libraries. But a lot of the material is NASA-generated and niche-oriented such that only a few copies – sometimes one copy – exists. A lot of it goes back to NACA days.

I took this picture (above) at NASA Ames while their library was being removed. I am told that NASA HQ has been assured that nothing of value will be thrown out and that important things that have not been electronically stored will be. But the budget pressures are strong.

Some of you may recall the time when Dennis Wingo and I did a diving catch of all the 1960s Lunar Orbiter program image tapes that were in a remote warehouse and JPL wanted to get rid of them. We started the Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project (LOIRP). We drove the tapes up to NASA Ames in two large rental trucks and assembled a team of retirees and college kids to bring the data back (link to New York Times) from the past at resolutions simply impossible to achieve back in the day. And of course you recall the whole ‘lost Apollo 11 landing tapes’ thing.

So, as these libraries close, I hope everyone at GSFC please keeps their eyes open to assure that NASA is preserving this history and not throwing it out. And if they are not then let me know. Below are some earlier examples of controversial NASA library closures.

• Memo: The Army Is Closing A Library That NASA MSFC Paid For, (2019)
• GSFC Memo: NASA’s New Strategy: Close Its Reference Libraries (2011) related post
• NASA ARC Solicitation: Packing Dismantling, and Reconstruction of Main Technical Library, (2005) related post
• NASA ARC Internal Memo: Library Reshaping, (2005) related post
• NASA Ames Library “Downsizing” (2005) related post"

Four more Liverpool libraries face closure in fresh round of cuts; Guardian, February 20, 2017

Danuta Kean, Guardian; 

Four more Liverpool libraries face closure in fresh round of cuts

"At the end of last year the Libraries Taskforce, which was set up by the government to find a solution to the ailing sector, produced a report outlining a national strategy to turn around services in England and Wales. A £4m innovation fund to help disadvantaged communities was among the schemes outlined in the Libraries Deliver report.

However, campaigners have claimed it is too little too late, with library loans continuing their steep slide downwards, according to Nielsen LibScan. Official figures released by the government at the end of last year revealed library budgets in England and Wales had taken a £25m hit in the year to March 2016. Libraries minister Rob Wilson has vowed to protect them from further cuts, and has this year visited those authorities facing the most swingeing cuts."

In Solidarity: Standing with UK Libraries; Library Journal, 4/13/16

Rebecca T. Miller, Library Journal; In Solidarity: Standing with UK Libraries:

"Last month, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) released a series of articles on the status of public libraries in the UK. The news is dramatic. More than 300 libraries have been closed since 2010—the reported total of 343 includes 132 mobile libraries, with over 100 more on the chopping block—and almost 8,000 jobs have been lost. The advocacy drumbeat for UK libraries has been sounding for some time, with prominent authors and celebrities offering their support. Staring down the numbers reported by the BBC has spurred a barrage of public and professional response—some reinforcing negative stereotypes and others helping to build the case for more investment.

I reached out to Nick Poole, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP), the library association for the UK, to get a better sense of what’s happening on the ground and behind the scenes...

One initiative CILIP developed is the “My Library by Right” campaign to raise awareness of the requirement for library service, to counter prevailing misconceptions about what libraries provide, and to build understanding of what recourse is available.

A longer term solution, says Poole, is to move toward a national library strategy, shifting the governance of libraries away from the local councils. This direction has had some success already in Scotland, he adds, and is gaining traction in Wales and Northern Ireland. With such deep reform currently stymied in England, however, a “Leadership for Libraries Taskforce” is focused first on improving the perception about libraries."