Interlibrary Loan

The Thurgood Marshall State Law Library is a non-circulating library. However, by statute, the Library does participate in Interlibrary Loan Services (ILL), a cooperative service among libraries that allows for the borrowing and lending of materials from and to other libraries.

Borrowing of Materials

Library staff can arrange to borrow materials for the use of Judiciary staff and employees. Depending on the delivery method, materials can take anywhere from a few days to a full week to arrive. The loan period is usually 3-4 weeks, with, most often, the possibility for renewal. Please note, most requests are processed within 24 hours; however, if you submit a large number of requests on a single day, the process time may be longer.

Lending of Materials

Many Library materials may be loaned to other libraries. Requests may be submitted via OCLC or e-mail. We also accept ALA Interlibrary Loan request forms.

Materials we lend include:

  • Maryland legal treatises (duplicates only)
  • General legal treatises
  • Maryland Task Force Reports (duplicates only; note, most Task Force Reports are available in digital format through our catalog)
  • Many microform materials
  • Newspapers on film

Materials we do not lend include:

  • Reserve materials
  • Maryland Genealogy materials
  • Special Collections Room materials
  • Looseleaf publications
  • Periodicals, including law reviews

Delivery Methods

  • E-mail
  • Mail
  • FedEx (at requesting library's expense)

Copy Fees

  • Reciprocating libraries, no charge
  • Non-reciprocating libraries, first 5 pages are free; $.50 per page thereafter

We will refuse requests for photocopies that the Library considers to be in violation of copyright law. A copy of the copyright notice from photocopied material will display the following warning with every photocopy provided: "Notice: This material may be protected by copyright law (Title 17 U.S. Code)."

The requesting library is responsible for the loss of or damage to any material loaned by the Thurgood Marshall State Law Library. Replacement costs are the responsibility of the requesting library.