Buckfield selectmen weigh options for archiving historic documents

BUCKFIELD — Peggy O’Kane, the digital collections supervisor of the Maine State Library, attended Tuesday’s Board of Selectmen meeting to answer questions and discuss how the library might be able to assist the town with preserving some historic documents in a digital format.

The items O’Kane plans to archive digitally include journals from Zadoc Long Jr., namesake of the town’s Zadoc Long Free Library. According to a Dec. 3 Advertiser Democrat published report, other items O’Kane is interested in preserving in a digital format include morning reports, a company order, a descriptive book and clothing from the Charles H. Prince 23rd Maine Infantry, correspondence between Zadoc Long and his son, Zadoc Long Jr. and the first catalog of books at the town’s library, which also serves the residents of Hartford and Sumner.

According to Town Manager Cindy Dunn, the town will have the option to loan the documents in 15-year increments to the Maine State Library, thereby retaining ownership. The town would also have an option to cancel that loan agreement at any time.

Now that selectmen have listened to O’Kane’s presentation, the next step is for O’Kane to email a draft of a long-term loan agreement for the board to review at its Jan. 5 meeting. Dunn said nothing will be decided until at least after the board has reviewed those documents.

On Tuesday evening, the board gave its support of a grant for which Zadoc Long Free Library Committee members are applying with the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation to make the Zadoc Long Free Library more energy efficient. The application is due Dec. 31, and Dunn said she is waiting for estimates for the projects, which include insulation and recessed lighting.

In other news, the board scheduled a public hearing for Jan. 5 on renewal of a special amusement permit for Captain Bly’s Tavern.

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