![[photo, Enoch Pratt Free Library, 400 Cathedral St., Baltimore, Maryland]](/msa/mdmanual/36loc/bcity/images/1198-1-2530.jpg)
In Maryland are twenty-four public library systems, one in each county and Baltimore City, with a combined collection of 16.4 million items in Fiscal Year 2007.
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 52.7 million items in FY2007. Of these, 33.5 million were items for adults, and some 19.1 million were children's materials.
Enoch Pratt Free Library, 400 Cathedral St., Baltimore, Maryland, October 2007. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.
![[photo, Light Street Branch, Enoch Pratt Free Library, 1251 Light St., Baltimore, Maryland]](/msa/mdmanual/36loc/bcity/images/1198-1-1383.jpg)
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.
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]](/msa/mdmanual/25univ/umcp/images/1198-1-515b.jpg)
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.
Hornbake Library, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, August 2003. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.
![[photo, Health Sciences and Human Services Library, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland]](/msa/mdmanual/01glance/images/i005913a.jpg)
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.
© Copyright April 20, 2009 Maryland State Archives