The FamilySearch Library on Temple Square is now helping people preserve old photos, video, audio and other artifacts for free. The Family Memories Preservation Center (also known as Memory Lane) has opened on the second floor.
“Every family probably has photo albums or boxes of photos or old video tapes and reel-to-reel films they have produced or acquired through the years,” said Debbie Gurtler, FamilySearch assistant library director. “The Memory Lane service is a great opportunity to ensure those family memories will be preserved and available for future generations.”
Volunteers and library staff are available to help visitors use any of the equipment. Portable USB drives are available for free but may not have sufficient memory for larger projects. Visitors are encouraged to bring their own flash drives or portable hard drives. Files can also be loaded directly to a patron’s personal online storage location like Google Drive and iCloud.
“I brought a box of family photos and did 150 in about an hour and a half or so,” Gurtler said. “You can put them all into a stack without worrying about the different sizes, place them on one of the self-feeding photo scanners, and they just automatically feed through. It’s hard to imagine how quick it can be with the high-speed scanners.”
Digitized files can also be attached to people on the FamilySearch Family Tree via FamilySearch Memories. In Memories, they can be organized by topic, preserved as a slideshow or album or used as sources for life sketches.
Visit the Family Memories Preservation Center website for details about the types of equipment available and how to make optimum use of the facility.
