Snow frosted the Boston Common on Monday and the gold dome of the state house glowed beneath a bright January sun on temporary release from cloud cover. Inside, the newly sworn-in freshman Cape and Islands Rep. Tim Madden began his first full week representing his district.

Mr. Madden of Nantucket is the first islander to represent the Cape and Islands in 30 years.

The 51-year-old representative was sworn in on Wednesday, Jan. 7, with 14 other freshmen and six senators by Gov. Deval Patrick. There was the usual pomp and circumstance connected to the ceremony in the 114-year-old House of Representatives chamber, framed in dark mahogany.

“It was exciting. All of a sudden you are on the floor,” said Mr. Madden, who for 10 years was the Nantucket legislative liaison for Rep. Eric Turkington. During those 10 years, his view was always from the balcony above. Now he shakes his head in awe at his new venue, with its framed paintings depicting John Adams, Samuel Adams, John Hancock and others doing the business of a young commonwealth. “You get an amazing sense of history in that room. So many representatives have come before,” Mr. Madden said.

He has assembled staff; he prefers to call them his team. Nell Coogan is the legislative liaison from the Vineyard and aide Tim O’Neil hails from Falmouth. On Monday the three met in what they call the bullpen, Room 437. It is a temporary office where Mr. Madden shares space with 14 other new representatives as they wait for their office assignments. The room is on the fourth floor, in the center of the state house.

“It is normally a hearing room, but once every two years it has a short-term role of being the temporary home for the freshmen,” Mr. Madden said. In the months ahead, he will move into his own office.

In the bullpen, Mr. Madden said he confers with other legislators. They use computers to review the text of various bills being filed.

In the first weekend in December, Mr. Madden attended a workshop and retreat with other newly elected representatives held at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. It was a weekend of learning the ropes and meeting others. While there he met Ann-Margaret Ferrante of Gloucester. She too had just been elected weeks earlier. Sharing the challenges of their respective coastal communities, they discussed a piece of legislation that had languished for years that would require training and certification for harbor masters. They approached Robert A. DeLeo of Winthrop, chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means, and asked that the bill be moved along to a third reading.

The legislation, Senate Bill No. 509 and House Bill No. 4791, had long had the support of state harbor masters and their association. The bill was approved and the governor signed it into law on Dec. 23.

“This to me is an example where we were able to collaborate and get work done, even before we were sworn in,” Mr. Madden said. He added:

“We are working on another bill making it a state crime for anyone caught making a false Mayday.” Currently there are federal fines for the offense, but no state penalties. “We are working with environmental police and harbor masters to increase the penalty to further deter this kind of activity,” Mr. Madden said.

He said he likes the job already and compared the work with that of a town selectman (Mr. Madden is also a former Nantucket selectman). “The big difference is it is a larger scale. It is not just looking out for Nantucket. We are now dealing with a district that includes 40,000 people plus. Quite frankly, this is about the whole commonwealth. The majority of what we do may affect all in the state,” he said.