A professional media transfer station at the Library of Congress is not broadly available, but helps digitize formats that are in danger of loss. 

Desks along a white wall that has several framed vintage posters hung on it

Personal media collections can contain irreplaceable memories of family and historical events. Memory labs at public libraries help preserve sacred histories by offering equipment and expertise to patrons.

The top of a wooden desk with an old newspaper clipping on the left side and a film reel on the right

Rachael Roman IMG 2622 1440x1800

We want to provide access for those people who might want to but don’t know how, don't have the resources, or don't know where else to go.

Popular media formats, like LPs and CDs, are among the items people frequently have in their personal collections but may no longer own the machines to play them.

Two desks along a dimly lit wall containing various items including framed vintage posters and albums

VHS tapes, as seen here in a collection at the Library of Congress National Audio-Visual Center, were frequently used for making home movies during the 1980s and 1990s. 

A large row of white shelves filled with file boxes, video tapes, and crates

Archiving goes personal: Preservation of personal media collections is a growing need as older formats deteriorate and AV equipment becomes harder to find, to own, and to operate. Public libraries support patrons in digitizing a range of home movies, photos, and family collections.  

A brown wooden desk and bookshelf containing various items such as books, records, and vintage posters

From Appalachia to the American Southwest, local libraries are saving personal histories one public memory lab at a time.

Public Knowledge

At the Library, in the Lab, Saving History

Artists as Catalysts

Artists as Catalysts Navigation Image

Beyond Incarceration

A side profile of a Black poet who is wearing glasses and a hat with a feather hat pin.

Borderlands Cultures

In portrait orientation, an aerial view of a major highway running parallel to a large border wall set on a hilly landscape

Civic Engagement

A man in a brown jacket stands in front of blue bulletin board that is covered with papers and advertisements  

Evolving Higher Education

A vertical image of an Indigenous person who is sitting on a chair in front of a backdrop.

Expanding Public Knowledge

An interior room filled with audio and video equipment 

Monuments and Memory

A multicolored painted totem pole set in front of a foggy forest landscape

Multivocality

Five people stand together in a group photo. They are laughing and smiling.

Power of the Word

Five colorful neon signs hang on the wall with messages that include, "Freedom cannot wait," "Brown owned," and "America is for Dreamers."

Public Places‚ Public Stories

A group of Indigenous Maskoke people stand and sit in the wooden frame of a structure in a woods

Puerto Rico and Its Diaspora

In a vertical image, a black leather vest is adorned with colorful pins across the front of it. Embroidery on the vest reads: "Felícitas "La Prieta" Méndez" 

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