​Capital Grants

Facilities Development           

• According to a November 2021 statewide facilities needs assessment, more than half of the 190 public library buildings in Maryland are over 25 years old. Consequences of this aging infrastructure are:

  • 19 buildings need a new roof
  • 10 facilities require alterations for ADA compliance
  • 24 libraries have HVAC systems that are at the end of their useful life
  • 37 buildings require technological upgrades in order to provide 21st-century library services
  • 55 existing facilities require general renovation at an estimated cost of $89,202,000
  • 15 buildings have been identified for replacement with a new structure at an estimated cost of $301,505,000
    
    

Countywide Master Facilities Planning Grants

Maryland State Library provides planning grants to library systems to evaluate existing facilities and develop priorities for improving them.

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County Library Capital Grants

Maryland State Library oversees a State capital grant program that provides seven million five hundred thousand dollars annually for the renovation, expansion, and construction of public library facilities. Since the program was implemented in 2008, capital grants have been awarded to 23 of the State's 24 library systems to improve one or more of their library buildings, and the $67,325,000 authorized by the General Assembly has generated an estimated $360,000,000 in local matching funds, nearly six times the amount of the State's investment in public libraries.

While the majority of the grant awards have funded basic, but important, renovations, an astounding number of 19 new public libraries have been opened with State funding from the Eastern Shore to Western Maryland…  along with lovely views of the Chesapeake Bay, local neighborhoods, and the mountains including; Anne Arundel (Annapolis), Baltimore (Sollers Point), Cecil (Perry Hall & Northeast), Charles (Waldorf West), Frederick (Brunswick, Myersville & Walkersville), Harford (Havre de Grace), Howard (Miller), Montgomery (Silver Spring &Wheaton), St. Mary’s (Leonardtown), Somerset (Crisfield), Washington (Boonsboro &Hancock), Worcester (Berlin & Ocean City) Counties. Additionally, 3 new state-of-the-art library facilities are currently underway in Anne Arundel (Riviera Beach), Calvert (Twin Beaches), and Frederick (Middletown) Counties with support from the State. 

Additional information for libraries is available at http://capital.maplaonline.org.

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New Northeast Library​

​Dedicated April 23, 2021, the new Northeast Library in Cecil County received a total of $3,862,574 for site acquisition, design, and construction between FY 2010 and FY 2020.

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