Maine State Law and Legislative Reference Library

02/10/2025

LLRL will soon be migrating to a new integrated library system (ILS). Patrons will notice a new public access catalog. Beginning February 21, 2025, some interlibrary loan services at LLRL will be *temporarily* unavailable. If you’re having problems obtaining materials through our library, please contact us directly.

02/20/2024

The Maine State Law & Legislative Reference Library now offers free legal ebooks! This means that you can read law books REMOTELY from a desktop computer, tablet, or smart phone.

📚Our ebook collection is available through LexisNexis Digital Library: https://lexisdl.com/welcome/login/mainestate and has 900+ titles covering many legal topics

📚Maine residents need to sign up for a borrowing account with the Law & Legislative Reference Library: https://legislature.maine.gov/lawlibrary/contact-the-law-library/9136

📚To read ebooks on a tablet or smart phone, download the LexisNexis Digital Library App from the Apple App Store or GooglePlay and use the code MAINESTATE

📚Maine state employees in all branches of government can access our ebooks immediately using their state-provided email address (Click the link that says “Sign in with Email”)

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Law Library.

12/20/2023

12/30/2022

The Law Library will be closed on Monday, January 2nd in observance of New Year's Day.

12/23/2022

LLRL is closed Friday, 12/23 and Monday, 12/26 in observance of the Christmas holiday.

12/08/2022

LLRL is pleased to announce that a scan of our original copy of Statham's Abridgement of the Law is now available online: https://legislature.maine.gov/lawlib/lldl/rpts/stathams1490.html

Written in Law French circa 1490, Statham's "contains an abridgement of cases decided in the courts between the reign of Edward I and the end of that of Henry VI." This rare, 500-year-old volume was bequeathed to the State of Maine in 1954 under the will of Harvey D. Eaton, Esq. of Waterville.

09/28/2022

The Maine State Law and Legislative Reference Library is pleased to announce the appointment of Jessica Lundgren as its new director. Jessica replaces John Melendez-Barden, who served as director for 14 years before retiring this July. Jessica has been a senior and principal law librarian at LLRL since 2015. Before serving the Maine Legislature, she was a research librarian for an AmLaw 100 law firm for 7 years. She holds a Master’s in Library and Information Science degree from Rutgers University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from American University. In addition to her work at the library, Jessica is the current Chair of the Legislative Research Librarians Staff Section of the National Conference of State Legislatures.

09/16/2022

LLRL is in the midst of a large expansion of its legislator biographical database. Part of this process has been scanning photos of former legislators from various sources. Below is a young Percival Baxter (House, 1905) and Athill E. Irving (House, 1907) from Presque Isle.

07/21/2022

Congratulations to librarians Alex Burnett and Jessica Lundgren for winning this year’s Dr. Joel Fishman Professional Publication Award for their chapter in Introduction to Law Librarianship! It is awarded by the Government Law Libraries Special Interest Section of the American Association of Law Libraries and recognizes a “member’s contribution to the field of government law librarianship through a professional publication that promotes government law libraries, law librarianship, legal research, or public access to legal information.”

07/14/2022

The Maine Legislature is seeking a full-time Director to head the nonpartisan Law and Legislative Reference Library. A job description and instructions for applying can be found here: https://legislature.maine.gov/execdir/job-opportunities