Bring Out the Old, Ring in the New: Your 2026 Memory Mission

Written by Sneha S., Foster City Library

Happy New Year, memory keepers! What if your new year’s resolution included digitizing a lot of your older print photographs, tapes and cassettes lying around at home?

Try Our Memory Labs

Picture this: in your hands is the greatest chocolate chip cookie recipe ever made, handwritten by your great-grandmother on a fragile scrap of paper that’s now barely holding together. Digitize the recipe so you can preserve it and enjoy its timeless goodness for years to come!

Open those cupboards and pull out the VHS tapes, cassettes, photographs, film reels, and negatives that could use a little magic and then transform them into everlasting, good-as-new digital files. Did you know that at San Mateo County Libraries, we provide Memory Lab equipment that can do all this for you? Our staff will train you to use the equipment, and you can book an hour-long appointment at many of our locations to work on the project. Perhaps you are celebrating a milestone or want to give the gift of memories to a loved one. Get started on your project today!

How It Works

A Memory Lab is a service or facility dedicated to the digital preservation of rare and obsolete media. It includes equipment for digitizing video and audio, and scanning photographs, documents and slides. You can reserve an hour of time in one of our Memory Labs.

The reserved time includes setting up equipment, preparing your media, digitizing and saving your finished project. To maximize your lab time, please tell us about your project in the booking form. We also ask that you complete a waiver prior to using our lab equipment.

Our Memory Lab includes equipment to digitize the following media:

Photos, negatives and photographic slides
VHS and VHS-C cassettes
Audio cassettes
8mm and Super-8 film (no audio)
3.5" floppy disks (DOS or Windows format only)
CD-R and DVD-R data discs

Reserve a timeslot or call Customer Care at 1-833-YES-SMCL (1-833-937-7625) to book a one hour appointment.

Personal Testimonies

Here are some heartwarming stories from staff who love the Memory Lab.

Sneha S. from Foster City Library shares a heartwarming story about preserving a treasured tape using the Memory Lab. Nearly a decade after losing her father, she used the service to digitize a childhood video in which she saw and heard him—speaking directly to her—for the first time in years. She says nothing compares to the feeling of experiencing that moment again and is deeply grateful for this free service provided by the library.

Karla B. at Atherton Library mentioned that the most meaningful service at the Memory Lab is helping patrons preserve their treasured personal histories, with examples including digitizing a couple's Super 8 wedding film, scanning a woman's 1960s childhood slides and converting family VHS tapes into holiday gifts for siblings. This preservation work aligns with the Makerspace goals, where every person is considered a maker, actively crafting and safeguarding the chapters that define their life story.

Debbie H. at Millbrae Library told us that one patron's simple request to retrieve files from old DVDs unexpectedly revealed beautiful, high-quality 8mm footage his father had carefully recorded in the 1950s. The Memory Lab enabled him to watch touching scenes of himself as a young child and share those priceless, recovered family memories with his siblings online.

Steven W. at Brisbane Library reiterated that it was always uplifting and inspiring when patrons utilized the Memory Lab to bring cherished memories back to life, like one dedicated user who learned to digitize old 8mm film. He carefully preserved the footage of loved ones to splice onto a tape, which was a touching surprise for his entire family.

Alan Z., also at Atherton Library, spoke about one particularly meaningful experience which involved helping a patron digitize his late father's story, a project that allowed him to discover his father's life events and medical history, providing context he previously lacked. The process of digital preservation and reviewing these memories, including photos, documents and notes, became a profound source of acceptance and healing for the patron, helping him better understand his own personal history.