In Maryland are twenty-four public library systems, one in each
county and Baltimore City, with a combined collection of 16.8
million items in Fiscal Year 2003.
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 51.3 million items in FY2003. Of these,
31.2 million were items for adults, and some 20.1 million were
children's materials.
Light Street Branch, Enoch Pratt Free Library, 1251 Light
St., Baltimore, Maryland, June 2006. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.
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.
Allegany County Library System, 31 Washington St.,
Cumberland, Maryland, July 2006. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.
 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, January 2001. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.
Some 178 public libraries were operating in 1999. School
library media centers in 1,290 public elementary, middle and
secondary schools hold more than 12.8 million items. Automated
circulation systems exist in 79 percent of these schools and 56
percent provide on-line public access to their catalogs.
Libraries of Note: Enoch Pratt Free Library, The Johns
Hopkins University Libraries, 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.
Health Sciences & Human Services Library, University of
Maryland School of Medicine, 601 South Lombard St., Baltimore,
Maryland, December 2000. 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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