NASA Headquarters Library

The NASA Headquarters Library catalog was a little difficult to review because I was not actually allowed access to NASA's catalog. The library itself is not meant for public use, only for use by employees of NASA, so unless you are accessing the catalogue via a NASA computer or using a password you cannot see the books/articles/etc. that are available in the physical library. However, the website for the library provides a vast assortment of databases, websites, and sources for the information a person is looking for.
The NASA library is focused on aerospace, engineering, technology, etc. so that is what the website's sources focus on. At the top of the home page there are several lists that offer the user several ways to search for the information. A person can search by subject, by document type, or by database. These choices are neatly arranged in alphabetical order, and make are very easy to find. After choosing, for example, the subject of Aerospace, the different types or resources are displayed so a person can either browse through all the types of resources or select one resource, such as Books Online or Websites. The user then chooses one of the options and is redirected to that website.
This is good for a person who is simply browsing for general information. But this is not helpful for a person who wants specific information. A NASA employee can simply go to the Library Catalog and search for the information. But there is no way for anyone else to find specific information unless it can be easily classified into a subject such as Mathematics, Aerospace, etc. If it can be classified in this manner the website directs the user to online databases, journals, websites that can give a person the specific information they are looking for.
The fact that the NASA Headquarters Library is so focused on NASA employees is a major weakness of the OPAC. The creator of the website compensates in some ways by clearly labelling which databases are available to only NASA employee, but this is not done for all links (the links at the top of each page are not clearly labelled so everyone can tell which ones the public can go to and which ones are restricted to only NASA employees).
A user of this OPAC can also request alerts for when certain articles, books, or journals arrive so that the user can view them immediately. A user may also ask the library to buy a book, article, etc. if it is not already available. These are both extremely helpful; however, these services can only be used by NASA employees.
Overall, this is a good OPAC with a lot of helpful information, but the major problem is that it is aimed toward NASA employees. If this were a small-town library that would most likely not receive a lot of outside visitors this would not be such a problem. However, NASA is very much in the public eye and it is most likely one of the first places many will look when searching for documents relating to aerospace or engineering. But the user would not even be able to search the Library Catalog in order to find information.