The Personal Archiving Lab at the Central Library is a collection of equipment that can be used to digitize at-risk analog materials. The Lab supports the following
formats:
- VHS tapes
- VHS-C tapes
- DVDs (not BluRay)
- Audio cassettes
- MiniDV tapes
Hi-8 tapes(we cannot digitize Hi-8 tapes at this time),- Photographs / negatives / slides
- Paper-based documents
There is also a mobile version - the Mini Archiving Lab - that may be hosted at one neighborhood library for up to 2 months. This set of equipment supports...
- VHS tapes
- Audio cassettes
- Photographs / negatives / slides
- Paper-based documents
Neither set of equipment supports 8 or 16mm reel-to-reel film or audio tape. Patrons who use the lab must bring some form of external storage — a portable hard drive, or a thumb drive — on which digital files can be stored.
Personal Archiving Lab Tutorials
First-time users will need to attend a one-time Personal Archiving Lab Tutorial. Drop-In Tutorials are scheduled on (most) Mondays, 2-4pm at the Central Library (Rm. 209). The instructor may not be able to accommodate those who arrive after 3:40pm.
The Mini Archiving Lab is not available at this time.
Please check our calendar or the Digitize Your Memories page for all Drop-In Tutorial dates.
For inquiries about the Personal Archiving Lab or tutorials please contact reference@madisonpubliclibrary.org.