Studio Scans at the DIY Memory Lab

Running the DIY Memory Lab is genuinely a great joy and honor in my life. The work that I get to do as a person who assists people digitizing their home movies and family photos is greatly rewarding, especially since a lot of the equipment we provide for the public is inaccessible and/or expensive for the average person. Part of the joy of facilitating appointments is seeing the amazing projects people create with the things they digitize.

For the A/V digitization, I’ve seen people record their audio cassettes to surprise someone with a recording of a loved one’s voice. I’ve seen people scan their father’s photography collection in thousands of mounted slides to surprise him with a photo book of his work for his birthday.

The DIY Memory Lab is not only a place to provide free resources for everyone, but it’s a space where I get to see how creative people can be with the resources we provide them.

Last year, to participate in the Central Arkansas Library System’s 2025 Summer @ CALS Color Our World theme, we hosted Studio Scans, a program that allowed artists to use the DIY Memory Lab to take high-resolution scans of their artwork for the months of June and July. While there was initially little activity during that summer, interest in scanning artwork at the lab picked up in the following months. I have since added 2D artwork as a permanent option to flatbed scanning appointments and have met many artists through this process.

One of those artists was my friend Isabella Wisinger, who after scanning her collages at the lab during Studio Scans, came back to the Memory Lab with the goal of scanning artwork for a literary magazine she was starting.

While putting together Dandy, a forthcoming magazine highlighting artists and creatives in Arkansas, she asked me to join her in the project as a guest curator.

Not only did she scan some of her own pieces to create pages for her magazine, she also directed artists who wanted to submit their work to visit the DIY Memory Lab, since it was a free and accessible way to get high-resolution scans. Multiple pieces that will be featured in the magazine were scanned at the DIY Memory Lab, including one piece of my own.

Having the DIY Memory Lab be a part of the whole process of putting together Dandy from start to finish was deeply rewarding, and I sincerely hope more folks come in to create projects using our equipment. Whether you’re putting together a portfolio, creating digital scans of your artwork, or digitizing your audio cassettes as a gift, the DIY Memory Lab is a space that celebrates all projects and helps you bring them to fruition.

Find more information about the DIY Memory Lab. Visit the CALS website (opens in new window) for Roberts Library visiting information (opens in new window).

For more information about the magazine, visit Dandy’s website and Instagram.

Meredith Li is the Memory Lab coordinator.