Council approves five‑year contract for library to digitize local history collections

The Medford City Council voted on Oct. 21 to authorize a five‑year contract with Adam Matthew Ltd., doing business as AM Cortex, to create and maintain a cloud‑based digital asset management (DAM) platform for the Medford Public Library’s local history collections. The contract was described in the mayor’s submission as part of the Bloomberg Digital Innovation Grant supporting digitization work.

Library Director Barbara Kerr told the council the vendor will build the online platform, provide help‑desk support and supply drives from the scanning company; the scanning itself will be a mix of vendor services and city staff work. Kerr said oral‑history recordings and audiovisual materials are complex to integrate and long‑term vendor support motivated a five‑year term: "This is gonna be ongoing and growing ... having help desk and the company available for the long term is really important to this project."

Councilors asked whether the grant covers the entire five‑year contract and about long‑term ownership of physical files; Kerr confirmed the Bloomberg grant specifically covers library materials and drives will be provided while the library will retain its physical files. Vice President Collins moved to approve, the motion was seconded and the council approved the contract.

Councilors and staff said they expect an initial public launch early next year and noted local scanning capacity has been improved by recent equipment purchases and an archival intern placement.