About the Library

The Goddard Space Flight Center Library is located at the main facility of the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, northeast of Washington, DC.   Goddard is a federal Research and Development laboratory that comprises more than 30 major buildings on 1200 acres, and has a workforce of about 10,000, which includes federal civil servants and private industry contractors, both on-site and off-site.   Goddard’s primary role in NASA is to provide program and project management, engineering and scientific research for a variety of instruments and spacecraft for the scientific exploration of the Earth, Sun, Solar System, and the Universe beyond.   Goddard also oversees the Wallops Flight Facility, and it’s Technical Library, near Chincoteague, Virginia.   Wallops conducts a variety of suborbital rocket and low-Earth orbit space missions, as well as managing NASA’s high altitude scientific balloon program in Palestine, Texas.

In support of NASA and Goddard missions, the libraries maintain and provide access to information from a variety of print and electronic books, journals, and technical publications as well as a number of databases and other online resources. These information collections concentrate on aerospace, space sciences, earth sciences, remote sensing, engineering, instrumentation and project management.

History of the Homer E. Newell Library

John M Weaver, first to head the Goddard Library, oversaw its design and construction in Building 21 and meticulously filled its shelves with a collection to accommodate the readers of the space age. During the winter of 1965 the Library staff moved the Library from the cramped 2nd floor of Building 1 to occupy the first and second floors of Building 21.

In the summer of 1968, John Weaver left the Library, and Adelaide Anna Del Frate became the new Head of the Library. Her mission was to automate all of the Goddard Library systems and integrate all of its functions. She realized her goals and objectives when she enabled the Library to acquire the Northwestern University NOTIS Integrated Information System.

On September 27, 1983, the Library was dedicated as the "Homer E. Newell Memorial Library in honor of his leadership and scientific contributions to America's space program." With his educational background, his writings and achievements, Dr Newell's life can be seen as a pattern and guide in the formation and development of the Goddard Space Flight Center.