Your subject librarian is Charlotte Erdmann. Contact her with any questions or requests.
Aerospace and High Technology Database: CSA provides an extensive introduction to the database. View the table of contents for relevant pages.
Searching NTRS Help Guide: NASA provides a comprehensive guide to searching NASA documents, NACA documents, and the NASA Image eXchange (NIX).
INSPEC and COMPENDEX Training on EI Village: Engineering Information provides several short training videos on its product. This should help explain the interfaces and features.
Google Scholar: Free service to many online journals and books. Since Purdue pays subscriptions to many online journals, you may be able to find full-text sources.
Here's a way to include a link to Purdue Library holdings from Google Scholar. The OpenURL referrer put the Find It @ Purdue icon in your Google Scholar search results, allowing for quick, easy determination if you can get an electronic copy of an article.
http://www.openly.com/openurlref/