It’s tech AND texts at Maine’s libraries as they reach out to a new generation of users.

LEWISTON — Kids don’t need help figuring out what to do in Minecraft.

What they need, according to Ruby Jones, Lewiston Public Library’s Adult Services technician, is a good challenge.

“That’s what we’re trying to do, come up with something they can build or solve or do,” Jones said.

Minecraft is one of the more popular computer games today, a wide open virtual territory where kids can play and have adventures. Jones is a player herself, so she knows what’s possible.

“There are all sorts of things they can do — they can build stuff or they can go mining or they can go explore a map that has a story line they have to complete,” she said.

Jones is planning a Minecraft day at the library April 4. Kids can come in and log on to the library’s server and work together to build a Minecraft masterpiece or to solve a mystery.

She tested the idea earlier in March, inviting local Minecraft enthusiasts to come in and map out a virtual library.

“They were beautiful,” she said. “They had bridges and flowers outside and check-out desks with people.”

There’s no end to their creativity, she said. Sometimes, however, they need a $26 Minecraft account.

“I know some kids ask for them for Christmas, but some kids don’t have them,” Jones said. “We have a few, and I’m hoping we can get a few more.”

It’s all part of an effort across Maine to get people to turn to their local library when they want technology.

Want your kids to learn to program robots? Want to learn a language or try out some state-of-the art video-making equipment? Grab your library card.

“We don’t want people to think of libraries as just places for books any more,” said Jared Leadbetter, one of the chief wrangler’s at the Maine State Library’s Tech Petting Zoo.

Leadbetter is part of the state team that has rounded up some cool tech tools and takes them around the state to let people play with them and try them out.

State library staffers can bring the gear to a local library and give a lesson to staff and the public, or they can just send it along and let the local library staff figure it out.

“The notion we want to promote is that technology can be found at a public library,” he said. “It’s the place where they can come across technologies that they will not come across on a day-to-day basis on almost any job.”

Maine’s Tech Petting Zoo started with a bunch of tablet computers and e-readers, but those have become rather mundane lately — kind of like having a real-life petting zoo populated with dogs and cats. There’s nothing wrong with dogs and cats, mind you, but many people have ones of their own.

Today, the baby lions of the state’s tech collection are a set of 3D printers they troop around to Maine libraries. The machines use a pliable plastic material to assemble shapes, producing anything a designer can create on a computer aided drawing, or CAD, system. That can include toys, chess pieces, logos or prototypes for gears and other machinery.

“They can be prototyping things, they can be making and inventing things, just out of their public library,” he said. “It’s kind of like making cookies one at a time. It can take a long time to create a structure, but for people that have never seen it before, it can be very interesting.”

Leadbetter said the 3D printer has been making the rounds of Maine’s libraries, as have some portable cameras like GoPros.

“Sometimes people get them and don’t know what to do,” he said. “They can bring them in and get some help setting them up.”

But the petting zoo equivalent of the fuzzy hand-holding otters would be Dot and Dash, the tech zoo’s newest acquisitions. They are a pair of programmable robots that can be easily controlled wirelessly by kids as young as 5.

“A lot of kids just enjoy the ability to maneuver this little robot around,” he said. “It’s a really charming little robot. It makes these little noises and beeps to make it sound like a little friend.”

They’re scalable too: Older kids with a bit more savvy can use more complex tools to program and control them.

“There are programming apps that let you create a prepared route, or make certain sounds along the way,” he said. “It’s part of creating that introduction into robot programming. That’s what we’re trying to do with the Tech Petting Zoo.”

Dot and Dash have only been in Leadbetter’s stable for a couple of weeks, and they’ve only been out to visit one library.

Lewiston’s Adult Services Librarian Marcela Peres said she’s eager to get her hands on the little robots and the 3D printers — and anything else the state can bring along. There’s nothing scheduled, she said, but stay tuned.

“There are a lot of things we’re trying to get off the ground now,” she said.

That doesn’t mean there’s not an array of cool gear to try out. For example, Lewiston has a loanable reflector telescope available to any adult with a library card and a driver’s license.

“They can take it home, but they have to have a car,” said Children’s Librarian David Moorhead.

It’s been popular with home school parents and Scout leaders, he said.

Moorhead is also in charge of the library’s five Lego Robot Kits. Those are used weekly by the library’s Mindstorm Club, but families can check them out and take them home.

Meanwhile, the Auburn Public Library has put plenty of effort into its multi-media lab.

Anyone with a Lewiston or Auburn library card can come in and use the equipment — which includes the iMacs with Adobe audio, video and photograph editing software, microphones, cameras, a synthesizer keyboard, lights and all the other tools necessary to make a song, a video or a photographic masterpiece.

The center even has a green screen studio and software that lets users swap out the background for their videos or photographs.

Auburn Library Director Mamie Ney said the library is applying for grants to get a telescope of their own, as well as some 3D printers.

“We have classes, we have clubs, we have programs,” Ney said. “We have a Young Engineers Club for the next few weeks, we have iPads people can check out and take home.”

The two libraries also offer a shared database of ebooks, audio books and computer programs accessible online at libraryla.org.

For example, users can log on and use the language learning software Mango to brush up on their French, their Spanish or learn to speak like a pirate. They can log on to Learning Express to pick up Microsoft Office or Adobe Photoshop skills, download repair manuals for their car at the Chilton Automotive Database and learn investing skills and strategy through the Value Line service.

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For more:

* Maine State Library’s Tech Petting Zoo:

www.state.me.us/msl/digital/techzoo/index.shtml

* Lewiston Public Library:

lplonline.org/

* Auburn Public Library:

www.auburnpubliclibrary.org/

* Or connect with your local library and ask them to look into the free resources available to them through the Maine State Library.