from all major law schools and many bar associa-
tions and commercial publishers. Legal texts and
topical loose-leaf reporting services are collected
with briefs and record extracts from the U.S. Su-
preme Court and Maryland appellate courts, and
other legal reference sources.
State and Federal Government Documents. The
Library has been a select U.S. government deposi-
tory for federal agency and congressional publica-
tions for many years. As a result, it has collected and
indexed thousands of reference publications in the
areas of social sciences, economics, law enforce-
ment, legislative histories, and other disciplines.
The Library also is a depository tor 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 tile copies of their
codes with the Library.
Local History and Genealogy Collection. This
resource, developed over two centuries, comple-
ments much of the original source material available
for research at the State Archives across the street

and the Maryland Historical Society in Baltimore.
Holdings include Maryland census schedules,
1776-1920 (with name indexes through 1850); a
complete run of the 'Baltimore Sun (1837 to date);
and numerous county histories, family genealogies,
and research guides.
At the State Law Library also are rare books and
early Maryland maps and documents, including the
subscription edition of James Audubon's four-vol-
ume elephant folio, Birds of America. 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 painted by Richard Sloane
(commissioned by the Nature Society). The Li-
brary was designated as the official depository for
these prints by the Governor in 1970.
The governing board of the Library is the Li-
brary Committee. It is composed of at least three
members appointed by the Court of Appeals. The
Committee appoints the Director, develops rules
for the Library, and authorizes the purchase of new
titles (Code Courts and Judicial Proceedings Arti-
cle, sees. 13-502,13-503).