SOUTH PORTLAND (AP) – Mainers look to their local library as a place to borrow books and perhaps a video. But one library in the state offers something different: a work of art.

Now, with Thursday’s donation of 23 new pieces from the Maine College of Art, the South Portland Public Library provides a wider choice of art pieces that library users can put on display at home, turning their living rooms into galleries.

“Just as we share books and other media, we also like to share art,” says library director Marian Peterson.

The new objects, which range from paintings and ceramic pots to digital prints and drawings, will be made available to borrowers for the traditional three-week loan period.

The library has had an art-lending program for 25 years, but until lately, its collection of 90-plus pieces has included mostly prints. Of note is an etching by Pablo Picasso.

In 2000, library volunteer Jane Perscious willed about 25 art works from her private collection to the library.

The idea for the Maine College of Art’s gifts came from students in Professor Adriane Herman’s printmaking class, which sought to find new ways to make art accessible to the public.

“It’s just another way that artists can get their work to an audience who otherwise might not get to see it,” said Sasha Johnson, 21, a senior printmaker from New York.

The 14 students in Herman’s class invited MECA faculty and friends of the college to donate art for the project. The pieces will hang on display for the next week and then be cataloged and available for checkout. They cannot be purchased.

The project, called “Check it Out!,” is not a new concept. Various museums around the country have established similar programs, but most are in high-end academic settings, such as Harvard University. They are more common in Europe, but the South Portland library program is unique to Maine.

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