![[Color photograph of Hall of Records]](/msa/mdmanual/25ind/images/archives.jpg)
Major collections of manuscript and published materials relating to Maryland are held by the Maryland Historical Society and the Maryland Division of Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, and the libraries of Maryland's colleges and universities. Many federal government records are at the National Archives at College Park (Archives II). Additional archives of interest include:
In Maryland are twenty-four public library systems, one in each county and Baltimore City, with a combined collection of 13.5 million items. 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.
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.
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.
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 45.5 million items in 1999.
Libraries of Note: Enoch Pratt Free Library, The Johns Hopkins University Libraries, Space Telescope Science Institute Library (NASA), and the Thurgood Marshall Law Library, University of Maryland School of Law, Baltimore; the 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. 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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