Digitize your old home movies, photos at the Wildcats Memory Lab
Faculty librarian and digital preservation specialist Stacey Erdman launched the Wildcats Memory Lab in the University of Arizona Main Library to provide the community with a place to scan their home movies, family photos and more - free of charge.
Chris Richards/University Communications
If you've got old wedding videos or boxes of family photos collecting dust in your closet, the Wildcats Memory Lab at the University of Arizona can help bring those precious memories into the 21st century and preserve them for generations to come.
Opening March 24 on the third floor of the Main Library, the do-it-yourself digitization space is run by University Libraries and provides the equipment, guidance and resources needed to convert analog media into a digital format.
The project is led by Stacey Erdman, an associate faculty librarian who oversees both digital preservation and archival digitization for the library. Her work involves developing digital stewardship policies, strategies and workflows for all of University Libraries' digital collections. Erdman believes the Wildcats Memory Lab is one of the first – if not the first – public memory labs at a U.S. higher education institution.
"The name 'memory lab' is meant to capture the essence of what you're doing in this space," she said. "People inherit old media formats – VHS tapes of childhood performances, albums of photos, camcorder footage – and they don't know what to do with them. We are providing a space where they can digitize and preserve those memories. We provide all the necessary tools and instruction in a place that is open to the campus and the greater community."
Stacey Erdman helps U of A alumna Kayleigh Kozyra scan photographs from a scrapbook in the Wildcats Memory Lab.
Chris Richards/University Communications
Inspired by the District of Columbia Public Library Memory Lab, which launched in 2015, the Wildcats Memory Lab is supported by a $43,240 grant from Arizona State Library, Archives & Public Records, a division of the Secretary of State, with federal funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
The lab features three computer stations, each dedicated to digitizing a different type of material: print, audio or video. Visitors to the lab can work with a variety of formats, including photographs, paper documents, vinyl albums, audio cassettes, 3.5-inch floppy disks, CDs, DVDs, VHS tapes and more.
Once finished, users can save their newly converted files to a USB device.
"I think that the University of Arizona, as a land-grant institution, has a responsibility to engage with the public," Erdman said. "We already see this happening through agricultural extension programs, but I think the library should also play a role in providing resources and outreach directly to the community. The Wildcats Memory Lab is one small way we can give back and make a meaningful impact."
Beyond providing free digitization services to the community, the memory lab also offers internship opportunities for students in the College of Information Science, particularly those in the Master of Arts in Library and Information Science, Master of Science in Data Science, and Master of Science in Information Science programs.
The Wildcats Memory Lab can convert a variety of analogue media into digital formats.
Chris Richards/University Communications
The lab's first two interns, library and information science graduate students Amy Ellsworth and Felix Brigham, helped Erdman design and set up the lab, collaborate with community partners, and create both the lab's website and its training materials.
"Most of our archival coursework is theoretical, so having a space with actual archiving equipment is extremely helpful," Ellsworth said. "But I also love hearing people's stories. They mention family tapes they have at home, or tapes they've lost, and their plans to recover that history. I got into archives because I believe those personal stories matter – even if they never end up in a formal archive or museum. Letting people know their own histories are worth preserving is so important."
Working in the lab provides hands-on experience that reinforces classroom learning, while also showing the public why preserving aging media is so essential, Brigham added.
"People outside of the College of Information Science may not realize just how fragile digital memories can be," Brigham said. "By engaging students in this work, we can help them understand how to protect their own digital and analog media for the future."
The public can schedule time to use the Wildcats Memory Lab through the lab website. The lab will host an open house on March 24, from 3 to 6 p.m., in conjunction with CATalyst Studios on the ground floor. The event will include archival footage screening, arts and crafts and more.
