By Scott Taylor,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – Library officials would love to believe that their local historical collections are driving Internet-savvy readers around the state into a frenzy.

“In a general sense, it’s probably our fiction,” said Ellen Gilliam, reference librarian at the Lewiston Public Library. “Smaller libraries don’t have the shelf space we do, and they can’t keep copies of all of Stephen King’s works. We can.”

But whether it’s works of fiction or historical tomes, the library is noting an explosion in online lending and swapping books around the state via the Minerva computer database.

Last year, the library sent 3,505 titles to distant libraries and borrowed another 8,631 for local patrons.

It’s what the system was designed to do when it came online in 2000, said Karl Beiser of the Maine State Library.

“It really allows people to do so much more than they ever could, years ago,” he said. “And all they have to do is push a button.”

The system links 40 municipal libraries and another 10 academic and college libraries. It traded more than 115,000 titles last year, including books, books on tape, DVDs and videos.

Both Lewiston and Auburn libraries are members. Visitors to either library’s Web site can search the entire local collections and reserve books from home. The library will set them aside and call the patron when they’re ready.

Minerva also searches for books that are not in the local library’s system, and lets patrons put them on hold. If a member library has a book and it’s not checked out, they’ll deliver it. It can be ready for reading in three days.

The system’s handy for getting your hands on popular books that were published a few months ago, rather than a few weeks ago.

“If there are a gazillion people all trying to get a book across the state, they’ll all be used by the local library patrons,” said Rick Speer, director of the Lewiston library. Minerva might help you get the latest Harry Potter novel, which was released in July. But you’ll be out of luck if you’re looking for Sue Grafton’s latest, he said.

It’s a big help for smaller libraries, with smaller collections. But Speer said Lewiston, which lends more than it borrows, does get help from the state. Lewiston gets $5,100 per year to defray lending costs plus deep discounts on computer systems and software.