Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner is encouraging residents to dust off their old videos, cassettes, film negatives and floppy disks and preserve their old memories at Brisbane City Council’s new free media conversion station.
Cr Schrinner said many households had a stockpile of priceless memories on old formats and the new permanent facility at Carindale Library would provide people with an opportunity to convert them to digital format and make them last forever.
“Many of us are sitting on a gold mine of precious photos, videos and recordings in retro formats like VHS tapes, film and cassettes with no easy means to bring them back to life,” he said.
“Converting tapes and films into digital files can come at a cost and that’s why we’re proud to offer this new service for free to all residents, including non-library members.
“Whether you’ve got prints, projector, slides, film negatives, audio cassettes, VHS tapes, historical documents or floppy disks, our friendly library staff will be there to help you convert your files, all you need to bring is a USB, external hard drive or DVD.
“As a general guide, scanning and saving files such as photos and documents takes approximately one minute per item. Audio cassettes and VHS tapes will need to play all the way through in real time to be recorded.
“Library staff complete a brief orientation with each new user or alternatively, you can join a group information session at the library before starting your project which provide you with overview of the equipment and opportunities for hands-on practise.”
Brisbane City Council delivered the new Media Conversion Station in partnership with the State Government.
You can book upcoming group information sessions via Council’s website at www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/libraries.