GREENBELT, MD. — NASA’s largest library, located at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, will permanently close on Friday, Jan. 2, ending more than six decades as a central research hub for the agency and the global space science community.
Established in 1959, the library has supported the development of some of NASA’s most significant missions, including the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope. Its collections include technical manuals, mission data, engineering documentation, and historical research materials used by scientists and engineers for decades.
The closure of the 100,000-volume NASA Goddard Information and Collaboration Center is part of a broader reorganization effort under the Trump administration. Under that plan, 13 buildings and more than 100 science and engineering laboratories on Goddard’s 1,270-acre campus are slated to be shut down by March 2026.
NASA spokesperson Jacob Richmond said the agency will spend the next two months reviewing the library’s holdings. According to Richmond, some materials will be transferred to a government warehouse, while others will be discarded. The New York Times reported that remaining items deemed unnecessary will be “tossed away.”
“This process is an established method that is used by federal agencies to properly dispose of federally owned property,” Richmond said.
Concerns about the scope of the shutdown have been echoed internally. In a statement posted on the website of the Goddard Engineers, Scientists and Technicians Association, the group said specialized equipment and electronics designed to test spacecraft have already been removed and thrown out.
The Goddard library closure follows the shutdown of seven other NASA libraries nationwide since 2022, including three that closed in 2025.
Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen sharply criticized the decision, calling it part of a broader pattern of cuts targeting the facility and its workforce.
“The Trump Administration has spent the last year attacking NASA Goddard and its workforce and threatening our efforts to explore space, deepen our understanding of Earth, and spur technological advancements that make our economy stronger and nation safer,” Van Hollen said in a statement.
“These reports of closures at Goddard are deeply concerning. I will continue to push back on any actions that impact Goddard’s critical mission,” he added.
After the library closes, NASA employees and researchers seeking assistance will be directed to a digital “Ask a Librarian” service or to inter-library loan programs that allow books to be borrowed from other federal agency libraries.
Named after American rocketry pioneer Robert H. Goddard, the Goddard Space Flight Center was established in 1959 as NASA’s first space flight complex. The permanent closure of its flagship library marks a significant shift in how research support is handled at one of the agency’s most historically important facilities.
Below, is the blog provided updates – GESTA is the professional employee association for the approximately 1700 federal scientists, engineers, and technicians employed at the NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in Greenbelt, Maryland, as well as employees at Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in NYC and Katherine Johnson IV&V Facility (KJIV&V) in West Virginia. We are run by volunteers, and advocate on behalf of our members in order to improve our working conditions in support of NASA’s missions, and the critical service we provide to the scientific community and to the American public.
Building Closure Updates Blog
12/27/2025 – The information below is based on GESTA’s understanding of recent events as of this date. Since management has put very little information in writing, some of this information also comes directly from employees who have been personally involved in the building closures or who have received verbal information from management. We acknowledge the disruption or loss of these facilities represent decades of our colleagues’ work and may carry deep personal and institutional impacts. The brevity of these updates is not meant to reflect the depth of the impacts. We are also aware indirectly of impacts to multiple laboratories and buildings not mentioned here. If you have a (non-controlled) status update or information you would like to provide GESTA regarding the closures or moves of a building or lab for a future bulletin, please feel free to send it to our tipline email or share it via our Survey on this topic.
Building 21 Library – Currently management has stated that all in person library services at GSFC are paused as of December 9th, while library staff complete a 60-day review of the collection. As of December 9th employees are no longer allowed to check out books from the library. Collaborative spaces are listed to remain open but close on January 2nd. Associate Center Director, Ray Rubilotta stated in a meeting with Code 600 on December 10th that the physical library will be closed, though some version of the library’s Collaboration Center will be moved to Building 28, Ask a Librarian will remain and some digital subscriptions will remain, but those subscriptions will be more limited.
The closure of the GSFC library is in direct violation of a 2012 Negotiated Settlement Agreement between GESTA and NASA Goddard. This agreement is available to read on our website Librarynegosettlementagree04oct2012.pdf. Library staff have reportedly been given permission (after requests by library staff) to go through the collection and save the most rare 10-15%. The other 85-90% is going to be picked up by the General Services Administration. The former NASA HQ library is also in our stacks since that collection was cataloged and brought to the Greenbelt Goddard library
Building 97 Fitness Center – Mr. Rubilotta informed paying members of the fitness center in a brief (less than 15 minutes) in-person meeting held on November 25th, that GSFC will be closing the fitness center on December 31st. He did not invite questions at the end, but accepted some when prompted. He stated that headquarters was not involved in this decision and this was an economic decision after looking at alternative options. He also announced the Wallops fitness center will be closed. Members who already paid fees beyond January 1st will be refunded. In addition, management and GEWA has emailed fitness center members this link (https://nasa.sharepoint.com/sites/GSFC/SitePages/Special-Events.aspx – internal) of local gyms including those offering promotions and discounts to Goddard employees. A table of shower locations on campus has also been provided by management.
Building 11 Propulsion Labs – On November 5, management notified employees that the center had made a commitment to vacate the area by November 12th. This equated to 4 business days’ notice, with a weekend and Veteran’s Day in between. On November 12th, movers arrived early and started moving equipment before any responsible engineers or technicians were present, and damaged a piece of non-critical equipment. Management had designated two destination spaces for the hardware to be split between; one of those destinations is still not ready for use as of December 15th, so some of the hardware is staged in temporary areas. Within days after the move out, employees’ card access to these labs was removed, including employees who worked in other labs in the area that were not emptied on November 12th.
Building 19 and 20 – All Labs and Offices – Employees were recalled from furlough in October to move labs and offices out of buildings 19 and 20. Threats were made that if people didn’t assist with these moves, lab equipment not labeled would be excessed and personal belongings would be packed by others. You can read more about the labs impacted in our briefing linked below.
More Information in GESTA/IFPTE Issue Brief – IFPTE and GESTA released a briefing on the status of GSFC building closures on November 14th and our continuing concerns at that time, including more details of some of the missions and capabilities impacted. The full brief is publicly available here.
