Safeguard NASA’s Knowledge Before It’s Gone

I am writing to express my serious concern regarding the closure of NASA’s largest research library and reports that significant portions of its holdings—some of which are not digitized or available anywhere else—may be placed into storage or discarded after only a brief review period. Knowledge, once lost, cannot be recovered. A two-month review window is plainly inadequate to assess decades of scientific, engineering, and historical research accumulated in a library that has supported critical space and Earth science missions. These materials represent public investment, institutional memory, and intellectual infrastructure that future researchers may depend on in ways we cannot yet foresee. At a minimum, all unique and at-risk materials should be preserved through systematic digitization before any disposal decisions are made. The cost of digitization is small compared to the permanent loss of irreplaceable research, technical documentation, and historical records. Once destroyed, these resources cannot be recreated—no matter how much funding or political will exists later. I urge you to support oversight and funding actions that would: • Halt the disposal of any NASA library materials pending full preservation review • Require comprehensive digitization of unique and non-duplicated holdings • Ensure transparency and expert involvement (including librarians and scientists) in preservation decisions Scientific progress depends not only on new discoveries, but on safeguarding the knowledge that made them possible. We should never be in the position of throwing away our shared scientific record due to haste or short-term cost considerations. Thank you for your attention to this matter and for your commitment to responsible stewardship of public knowledge.