Mike Murillo, WTOP ; NASA says historic materials will be preserved as Goddard research library shuts down
[Kip Currier: Multiple concerns with even this statement by NASA head Jared Isaacman, responding to concerns about the preservation and accessibility of historic NASA archival records, data, and documents.
Who will be making the determinations as to what is and isn't preserved? Are there trained staff involved in this process, i.e. persons with expertise in archival practices, collection development, document/data retrieval, etc.?
Keeping these records and data doesn't have to be an either/or choice. Isaacman said "preserving history is important, but NASA’s focus remains on future missions, including sending astronauts farther into space and returning to the moon to stay." We can do both: "preserve history" and advance work on "future missions".
Who knows today what seemingly inconsequential data in a notebook, or sound on an audiocassette recording, or document from the early days of space exploration may be key to solving an engineering design challenge or shedding light on a scientific conundrum at some later time that we can't foresee now. Watch Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986), and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)! 😏]
[Excerpt]
"The library at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, home to thousands of books and documents chronicling America’s space history, is closing in the coming months, raising concerns that rare records could be lost.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said on X that every item will be reviewed before the closure as part of a facilities consolidation plan approved in 2022 under the Joe Biden administration.
“The physical library space at Goddard is closing as part of a long-planned facilities consolidation,” Isaacman said. He added that the goal is to digitize materials, transfer them to other libraries, or preserve them for historical purposes.
Isaacman pushed back on reports suggesting NASA might discard documents, calling that characterization misleading. Critics have warned that historic and technical records could disappear.
“At no point is NASA ‘tossing out’ important scientific or historical materials, and that framing has led to several other misleading headlines,” Isaacman wrote.
He said preserving history is important, but NASA’s focus remains on future missions, including sending astronauts farther into space and returning to the moon to stay. Researchers will continue to have access to the resources they need, he said."
