Putnam County Library Offering Tools To Help Digitize Tapes And Photos

The Putnam County Library offering a resource at its Cookeville branch called the Memory Lab, which allows users to digitize video tapes, cassettes, or photos.

Director Katheryn Wisinger said the tech has been set up for two months and has seen a great deal of use. She said they use scanners for photo negatives and slides, and a system to digitize tapes.

“Here at the library we’re all about holding on to memories,” Wisinger said. “So it’s really important for us to offer this and help our patrons here in Putnam County be able to preserve their family memories and their family history.”

Wisinger said the Memory Lab is open for any library user. She said the process is simple and easy, but it is helpful to have the library’s IT specialist walk through it. All folks need to bring are their old media and their own thumb drive to save the new files.

Wisinger said while scanning is a fairly quick process, transferring VHS tapes to a digital medium can be a lengthy process.

“So if you’re bringing your home tapes, it’s live,” Wisinger said. “So that means you are sitting there through the tapes as it runs. So if you have 18 hours of home videos, then that is how long it’s going to take you.”