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MARYLAND AT A GLANCE

LIBRARIES

[photo, Brooklyn Park Public Library, 1 East 11th Ave., Brooklyn Park, Maryland]
  • Local Public Libraries
    • In Maryland are twenty-four public library systems, one in each county and Baltimore City, with a combined collection of 15.9 million items in Fiscal Year 2009.

    Brooklyn Park Public Library, 1 East 11th Ave., Brooklyn Park, Maryland, August 2010. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.

    [photo, Light Street Branch, Enoch Pratt Free Library, 1251 Light St., Baltimore, Maryland] Maryland residents may register with and borrow materials from any public library in the State. Information and materials found through the Maryland State Library Network may be mailed, trucked, or transferred electronically to a local library. The public checked out over 59.8 million items in FY2009. Of these, approximately 38.5 million were items for adults, and some 21.6 million were children's materials.

    Light Street Branch, Enoch Pratt Free Library, 1251 Light St., Baltimore, Maryland, June 2006. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.

    [photo, Hornbake Library, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland] Increasingly, electronic access to catalogs and the Internet has made computers an integral part of Maryland library systems. Patrons may identify and locate library materials by searching catalogs linked to Sailor, an online public information network. Sailor connects Marylanders and their libraries to resources within the State and worldwide, providing access to the Internet and to e-mail. Sailor is available free through every public library, and via modem-equipped computers from homes, schools, and offices.

    Hornbake Library, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, August 2003. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.

    [photo, Enoch Pratt Free Library, 400 Cathedral St., Baltimore, Maryland] The Maryland State Library Network serves more than 400 libraries throughout the State, primarily through interlibrary loan of materials and information. The Network consists of the State Library Resource Center (Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore); 3 regional library resource centers (Eastern Shore, Southern Maryland, Western Maryland); 4 academic libraries lending specialized materials; and more than 125 libraries that fill interlibrary loan requests from their collections.

    Enoch Pratt Free Library, 400 Cathedral St., Baltimore, Maryland, October 2007. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.

    [photo, George Peabody Library, East Mount Vernon Place, Baltimore, Maryland] Libraries of Note: Enoch Pratt Free Library, The Johns Hopkins University Libraries (including the George Peabody Library), Space Telescope Science Institute Library (NASA), Health Sciences & Human Services Library, University of Maryland School of Medicine, and Thurgood Marshall Law Library, University of Maryland School of Law, Baltimore; State Law Library, and Nimitz Library of the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis; National Library of Medicine, Bethesda; University System of Maryland Libraries; National Agricultural Library, Beltsville; National Institute of Standards and Technology Research Information Center, Gaithersburg; National Criminal Justice Reference Service of the National Institute of Justice, Rockville; Library of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Silver Spring; and U.S. Bureau of the Census Library, Suitland.

    George Peabody Library, East Mount Vernon Place, Baltimore, Maryland, September 2010. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.

    As the regional depository for Maryland, Delaware, and the District of Columbia, McKeldin Library at the University of Maryland, College Park, receives all publications of the U.S. government designated for deposit.

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