The Maryland Public Information Act (PIA) grants the public a broad right of access to inspect state and local public records, while protecting legitimate governmental interests and privacy rights of individual citizens. The Anne Arundel County Public Library (AACPL) will review and process PIA requests in a timely and lawful manner in accordance with the spirit of the Act.
Requests for records must be submitted in writing via letter or electronic submission of the form below.
Mailing Request Submissions
Submissions via mail should be sent to the AACPL's Marketing and Communications Manager at:
Christine Feldmann
Anne Arundel County Public Library
5 Harry Truman Parkway
Annapolis, MD 21401
410-222-2523
cfeldmann@aacpl.net
Pursuant to state law, AACPL will:
- Advise the requestor in writing within 10 business days if the records do not exist or if AACPL is not the custodian of the records;
- Advise the requestor within 10 business days if additional time is needed to respond to the request and the reason for the delay;
- Promptly ask the requestor for clarification or to narrow the request if needed; or
- Explain to the requestor the cost implications if the search will take longer than two hours.
Response to a PIA Request
- Disclosable records will be provided for inspection or duplication within 30 days of receipt, unless an exemption applies, or the requested document(s) do not exist or the requestor agrees to an extension beyond 30 days.
- The inspection of any requested documents must be performed in the presence of an AACPL employee designated by the Chief Executive Officer. The requestor may not remove any documents.
Non disclosable information may include but are not limited to:
- Customer library records
- Records containing attorney-client advice and attorney work product
- Personnel records
- Intellectual property records
Research, Preparation and Compilation Fees
Consistent with the Act, AACPL will provide two hours of labor free of charge when responding to requests. Requestors will be charged for additional time involved in research, preparation and compilation of records. The hourly fee will be calculated based on the staff person and/or attorney's actual time attributable to the search, review and preparation of the record. When a request is anticipated to consume more than two hours of labor, AACPL will notify the requestor and provide a cost estimate. The requester must agree to the fee amount before any research, preparation or compilation of documents or records begin. Where the cost estimate is likely to be $50 or more, AACPL will require a 50 percent deposit of the estimate before initiating any research, preparation or compilation of records. In all cases, fees must be paid in full before any documents are delivered.
Copying or Other Fees
Documents of 50 or fewer pages will be copied free of charge. As authorized by the Act, AACPL will charge a fee of 20 cents per page for documents that exceed 50 pages. These fees are subject to change in the future upon further review in accordance with increases in system copying fees. AACPL may elect to deliver documents responsive to a request for information in an electronic format to conserve resources. A requestor may request inspection of public records in lieu of receiving copies.
Fee Waivers
Requests for a fee waiver or reduction in fees may be granted if AACPL determines that a fee waiver is in the best interest of the public. Decisions are made on a case-by-case basis by the AACPL Chief Executive Officer and may be reviewed by the Board of Trustees upon request of the applicant.
Judicial Review
An applicant for public information that is denied review by the Library's Chief Records Custodian as reviewed by the Board of Trustees may seek judicial review under Md. Ann. Code, GP Art. §4-362, or, refer any concerns about the decision to the Public Access Ombudsman (OAG) pursuant to GP § 4-1B-01 et seq.
