Library's photo digitizer brings back memories

OAK HARBOR - When George and Doris Libben of Port Clinton married in 1958, one of their first purchases as newlyweds was a camera and projector.

Instead of developing photos and placing them in albums, the couple converted them to slides and viewed them on the projector. But that projector hasn’t been used in several years, so the hundreds of photos they took of weddings, family vacations and their children’s birthdays were, in all practicality, virtually lost.

The Libbens spent about three hours over two days using a Wolverine Photo Digitizer at Oak Harbor Public Library converting all of their slides into jpeg digital images. The photo digitizer is available for use for free at the library until Feb. 23. Slides, photos and negatives can be converted on the digitizer and saved on a thumbdrive or SD card.

“These slides date back to 1958,” Doris said as she and George worked together at the library. “It’s been a while since we viewed them. We just haven’t gotten our projector out for a while.”

While they were digitizing their photos, the Libbens discovered several they forgot they had.

“I taught kindergarten in Lacarne, and I have photos of some of the schoolchildren,” Doris said. “I found one of my grandmother who died in 1978.”

Now that the photos are digitized, they can be viewed more easily by the Libbens.

“We have so many of them, and now we can see them on our computer or on our television,” Doris said. “This is so helpful. I’m so glad we saw it was available.”

More importantly to Doris, the photos that had remained unviewed for years can now be shared with family.

“We have all these pictures of trips, family weddings and special birthdays on slides, but we didn’t have snapshots,” she said. “Now we can share them with our children, and they can see pictures of themselves and share them with their children.”

It doesn’t take long to learn how to use the photo digitizer. Adult Programmer Ann Chio and Young Adult Librarian Lisa Hossler teach librarians patrons how to use the equipment.

“We got good guidance. It was very easy to use once we got started. If you can push a button, you can do it,” Doris said. “We did about 500 slides in two hours on Monday, and we did 177 today.”

One of the benefits of digitizing photos is the capability to edit them after they are transferred online. Photos can be cropped, and lighting can be adjusted. The only obstacle library staff has faced with the equipment concerns transferring photos from negatives.

“We found it doesn’t take bigger negatives. It only takes 35 mm negatives,” Chio said. “Someone came in with 100-year-old negatives, and we couldn’t transfer them.”

The photo digitizer is on temporary loan from Northwest Regional Library District (NORWELD), which provides services and resources for public, academic, school and institutional libraries across Northwest Ohio.

“They have equipment that libraries can borrow,” Chio said. “We can borrow the photo digitizer again. If patrons don’t get done by Feb. 23, they can do it again later.”

Making technology available to the public is an important part of the services at Oak Harbor Public Library. The library will be borrowing a 3-D printer from NORWELD in March, and the library has mobile hot spot units available for loan.

“Stick around the library,” Hossler said. “This is where things are happening.”

To schedule an appointment to use the photo digitizer, call the library at 419-898-7001.

Contact correspondent Sheri Trusty at sheritrusty4@gmail.com.