Legal materials constitute the major part of the
collection. They include reported court decisions
from all appellate jurisdictions across the country
and Great Britain. Legislative enactments, both in
session law form and as statutory compilations, also
are filed in the Library from almost every state, as
are all federal and some foreign statutes. The Li-
brary's legal periodical holdings include 500 cur-
rent subscriptions from all major law schools and
many bar associations and commercial publishers.
In addition, there is a strong and growing collection
of legal texts and topical loose-leaf reporting serv-
ices, briefs and record extracts from the U.S. Su-
preme Court and Maryland's appellate courts,
along with the other legal reference materials found
in most law libraries.

The State and federal government document
collection is a vast trove of valuable information.
The Library has been a select U.S. government
depository for federal agency and congressional
publications for many years. As a result, it has
collected and indexed thousands of reference pub-
lications in the areas of social sciences, economics,
law enforcement, legislative histories, and numer-
ous other disciplines. The Library also is a deposi-
tory for all Maryland State agency publications and
contains one of the most complete retrospective
collections of State government information in
Maryland. In addition, all county governments
must file copies of their codes with the State Law
Library.

A third distinct subject collection and a much
used resource is the local history and genealogy

collection. This resource, developed over two cen-
turies, complements much of the original source
material available for research at the State Archives
and Maryland Historical Society. Included in the
collection are Maryland census schedules from
1776 through 1920 with name indexes through
1850; a complete run of the Baltimore Sun (1837
to date); and numerous county histories, family
genealogies, and research guides.
Additional items of interest are the Library's
holdings of rare books and early Maryland maps
and documents, including the subscription edition
of James Audubon's four-volume elephant folio,
Birds of America. Also on display in the Library are
the classic lithograph prints of each of the official
state birds for thirty-five states and the American
Bald Eagle, commissioned by the Nature Society
and painted by Richard Sloane. The State Law
Library was designated as the official depository for
these prints by the Governor in 1970.
The Library publishes a monthly list entitled
Recent Acquisitions, as well as miscellaneous bibliog-
raphies and a descriptive brochure on the Library.
The Library Committee, which acts as the gov-
erning board of the Library, is composed of at least
three members, appointed by the Court of Appeals.
The Committee's powers include appointment of a
director of the Library, appropriate rule-making,
and purchase authorization for new titles (Code
Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article, secs. 13-
502,13-503).