Julie Gibbons knew the collection of bound plat maps was a trove of information about the history of the city of Toledo and its environs dating as far back as the 1880s.

“I just didn’t want to get rid of them,” she said. “They are beyond cool.”

The clerk of Toledo city council, one of Ms. Gibbons’ duties is to oversee a library of city documents on the 21st floor of One Government Center. That library includes more than 660 pages of plat maps contained in 15 massive bound volumes. Each hand-drawn colored map — carefully mounted on linen pages — meticulously details every parcel of land on each street, sometimes including landmarks and subdivision and owner information.

Ms. Gibbons knew the best way to preserve them and make them easily accessible to the public would be to digitize eac

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