Library Spotlight Preserving photos, film, audio, and documents with the Randy Coleman Memory Lab
Original Randy Coleman Memory Lab feature page from the San Rafael Activities Guide.
Keep your memories alive

Randy Coleman Memory Lab

The library’s Memory Lab helps the community digitize irreplaceable family history without expensive commercial equipment or confusing workflows. The goal is the same as the print page: preserve the memories and make the process feel doable.

Location & access

Downtown Library, 1100 E Street. The service is free to the community.

Your first visit includes a quick orientation, followed by a four-hour independent session with staff available to help.

VHS and DVDs Photos, slides, and negatives 8mm and Super 8 movies Audio cassettes Personal documents
Book an appointment online

Scan the QR code shown in the original poster or use the appointment form linked from the library’s Memory Lab information page.

Slide digitizer equipment available in the Memory Lab. Digitizing equipment that patrons can use onsite

The page’s main visual equipment shot is preserved here without the aggressive crop that distorted it in the generated HTML.

Box of family slides prepared for digitization. Slides, prints, and older family archives

Library patron Justin brought in boxes of old 35mm slides so he could make a birthday slideshow for his mother.

Library patron Justin smiling beside his digitized family memories. “This service makes it feel doable and accessible for anyone.”

Justin’s testimonial is kept in text so the key message does not depend on reading the printed quote inside the poster screenshot.

Reels of home movies and film prepared for preservation. Home movies

Bring 8mm and Super 8 film to create digital copies that are easier to store and share.

Collection of vintage family photographs. Photos and printed keepsakes

Photographs, negatives, and personal documents can be converted into digital files that are easier to back up.

Why preserve now?

The page emphasizes what families already know: photos and recordings are irreplaceable documents of our lives, and they are often the first items people think about saving in an emergency.

This version keeps that meaning in accessible text while still preserving the original poster design above.