<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0M2v1f_1GqFbf7n00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0M2v1f_1GqFbf7n00" width="1021" height="1200" ><figcaption>Theo Preston</figcaption></figure>The Lorain Public Library Main Branch has welcomed a new space, the Memory Lab, to its upper floor. The lab is a free hands-on area that allows the community to digitize their physical or analog media. It officially opened mid-October, following a soft opening in September. Tools are provided that can preserve multiple forms of audiovisual formats, and the Memory Lab allows for library guests to bring in their digital projects or family memories that are at risk of aging to a point of degradation. “So far, it’s a very successful pilot project,” Cheri Campbell, librarian at Lorain Public Main Branch and aide at the Memory Lab, said. “We’re getting a lot of social media comments. I came up yesterday, and someone had left a … note that said, ‘Thank you for having this,’ so everybody is very happy and grateful, and people are just really really excited about it.” The main library is the first of the Lorain Public Library branches to receive a Memory Lab. They drew inspiration from the Mansfield/Richland County Public Library that opened their Memory Lab in 2022. Though the Memory Lab is new, there have already been many visitors and an abundance of public excitement about the project. Many Facebook users have expressed their enthusiasm through the library’s Facebook post about the lab, and there is a demand for similar spaces to be implemented at other branches. In an email statement to The Oberlin Review, Avon Branch Library Manager Donna Kelly Sprinkle affirmed the warm, personal reaction potential Memory Lab patrons have shown. “The most exciting thing is the relief and joy people express once they no longer have their precious family memories trapped on media they can’t use, but in digital format, viewable and able to be shared with family members,” Sprinkle wrote. The Memory Lab requires that guests make appointments with the library prior to their session using the equipment. Sessions are capped at three hours, and a library card is required to use the space. Patrons must be 18 or older to use the lab independently. If they are 16–18 then the library requires that they have a signed waiver from a parent or guardian. The library does not provide storage devices for the media, so guests must bring their own. Copyrighted media such as music or television is not allowed to be digitized without authorized use. Mediums that can be digitized at the Memory Lab include: VHS cassettes, 8mm cassette tapes, 8mm or Super 8 film reels, audio cassette tapes, 50mm slides, color and black and white negatives, and traditional photos.Beyond providing access to a plethora of equipment, the Memory Lab also gives patrons the skills necessary to preserve their own media. By familiarizing visitors with the digitization process, the library can help community members become more confident and knowledgeable in how to maintain digital archives. Through the opening of the Memory Lab, the library is ensuring that the stories stored on aging tapes and photographs have a new life on modern devices. The lab gives community members the opportunity to connect with their past and preserve important memories that would otherwise be lost to time. “The person that I was working with today is cleaning out his parents house and he has all these reels,” Campbell said. “The next reel he is going to do is from the 1930s, and … he’s going to show his grandparents, which is awesome because … I don’t think that [he was] old enough to quite remember his grandparents very well. So it’s going to be a whole new experience.” </div></body>

Block Source: oberlinreview.org

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The Lorain Public Library Main Branch has welcomed a new space, the Memory Lab, to its upper floor. The lab is a free hands-on area that allows the community to digitize their physical or analog media. It officially opened mid-October, following a soft opening in September. Tools are provided that can preserve multiple forms of audiovisual formats, and the Memory Lab allows for library guests to bring in their digital projects or family memories that are at risk of aging to a point of degradation.

Lorain County Main Library Opens Doors to Media Preservation

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The Lorain Public Library Main Branch has welcomed a new space, the Memory Lab, to its upper floor. The lab is a free hands-on area that allows the communi

Lorain County Main Library Opens Doors to Media Preservation

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