Just For . . .

Legal Professionals

Historical Researchers

Judiciary Employees

Librarians

Self-Represented

Students

Librarians

The Maryland State Law Library believes that libraries from all kinds of institutions play a noteworthy role in the provision of information services. Therefore, while most requests may be met at the local level, larger libraries, such as the State Law Library, may contain the materials to better respond to unique information requests. With a full-time and part-time team of twelve professionals and six paraprofessionals, the Library stands ready to help other librarians meet the information needs of their customers through both informal guidance and convenient services.

Librarians from many institutions may benefit directly from the following popular State Law Library services:

• The easy-to-use document delivery, with the capability to pay by Visa or MasterCard for “rush” copying, including PDF scans via e-mail
• Interlibrary lending via OCLC
• Phone and email reference assistance
• Remote Z39.50 access to the Library's catalog
• Access to Maryland state agency publications in digital format via the library catalog

At the statewide leadership level, examples of the Library's contributions include the following:

• A beneficial grants program for Maryland Circuit Court libraries open to the public
• Participation in the Conference of Maryland Court Librarians, including the crea
tion of the Recommended Maryland Treatises List and sample management policies
• Active involvement in providing training to public librarians throughout the State, such as through the Law Library Association of Maryland's Legal Research Institute
• Management of the Maryland's Peoples Law Library website
• Second-tier reference service for the Ask Us Now live reference service
• Representation on the Library Services Advisory Committee (LSAC) of the State Library Resource Center
• Attendance as a stakeholder at Maryland Advisory Council on Libraries summit meetings
• Membership by statute in the State Publications Depository and Distribution Program
• Document delivery service to incarcerated individuals via the Library Assistance to State Institutions (LASI) program of the Maryland State department of Education

Nationally, the Library has offered its assistance to the library community in the following ways:

• Involvement of individual librarians in educational programs and publications of the American Association of Law Libraries
• Institutional membership in the Legal Information Preservation Alliance, including participation in the innovative Chesapeake Project
• Authorship of the Maryland portion of the Pre-Statehood Legal Materials work

The Library is proud of its many contributions over the years to the greater community of librarians. To ask reference questions or to make other inquiries concerning services to libraries and librarians, please contact the Library's Reference Desk.

Updated: June 23, 2008

Key Resources:

Resources for Circuit Court Libraries

Copy Request Form

Interlibrary Loan

Chesapeake Project