AUBURN — A century of Androscoggin County property records may be headed to the Internet.

County commissioners are looking at hiring a company to scan and digitize original deeds that date back to the founding of the county in 1854.

When complete, the project would make researching any local property’s history as simple as logging on to the county’s website, www.androscoggindeeds.com.

Commissioner Jonathan LaBonte also hopes it frees up some space.

Rather than storing the one-of-a-kind volumes on the Androscoggin County building’s first floor — where space is tight — the documents might be safely archived somewhere else and read by computer, LaBonte said.

He imagines a work station or two replacing walls of books.

On Wednesday, commissioners plan to talk about a recent presentation by KellPro, an Oklahoma-based company that digitizes documents for businesses and government.

The company has not submitted an estimated cost. However, any bill would likely be covered by a $3 surcharge that is levied against every processed record.

The surcharge money has been accumulating for years in an account a dedicated to record protection and preservation. At the start of 2009, it at $381,000, County Clerk Patricia Fournier said Monday.

“We have the resources,” LaBonte said. “Why not get the project done?”

To Register of Deeds Tina Chouinard, any work will be a continuation of the effort that began just before her election in 2002. It went online in Spring 2003. Immediately, records dating back to the mid-1970s were posted online.

“That was my baby,” she said.

Since 2003, the online records have reached back to the early 1950s. In some cases, they go back even further.

Anyone may access the records online for free, browsing the site to look at a deed. However, the site blocks printing of the information without a $350 annual subscription.

Meanwhile the pool of documents is growing. Chouinard’s staff scans and digitizes documents daily.

“We’re continually adding to the system,” she said.

However, there are more than 500 books of material left. And each book is several inches thick.

It’s uncertain how long that would take without hiring an outside company, Chouinard said.

Either way, Chouinard would be reluctant to replace her books and her viewing spaces with computer work stations.

“There are people who come in here who don’t know how to use a computer,” she said.

In many cases, her documents fit poorly on the average computer screen.

Yet, she knows a population is waiting for the older documents, particularly when looking for old property lines or names to fill-in a genealogical puzzle.

“To me, it’s all about accessibility to documents,” she said.

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