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He Saved Cherished Photos at the Library Maker Space

December 8, 2021 — Les Hazen has made a lot of memories in his life, saving them all with hundreds of 35mm slides of family, friends, and vacations. Having been the maintenance director of a large trucking fleet, using the Maker Space to transfer his slides into a digital medium was easy for Les, as he found the equipment to be more like “a fancy scanner.”

 A retiree now volunteering at the Wonders of Wildlife as a docent, Les learned about the technology available at the Maker Space. “I heard about the conversion thing and thought about buying one for myself… but then it would be a one-time deal,” he says.

 When it came to using the equipment, Les learned how to use the transfer equipment with ease and committed himself to visiting the Maker Space four afternoons a week for two weeks. He was able to convert his entire slide collection to JPEG files that all fit onto a single flash drive.

 As Les reminisced, “This was back when you had to manually focus the cameras, so you would think the photo was in focus and you’d get it and it would be fuzzy.” He managed to use the Library’s “fancy tech” to make sure the resolutions came out as clear as possible during the conversion process and paid a little extra attention to the fuzzy images.  

 Les went through about 600 slides from 1960-1985 to find photographs with family and friends in them, “The ones that you really want to remember.” He also wants to pass the JPEG images on to his children or other family. He did choose to keep a few photographs that weren’t of family, like some of those he took at the 1970 World’s Fair in Osaka, Japan. Once finished with the transfers, Les was able to use the dates from the slides and the people in the images to create the file names to preserve each memory. 

 Les also reminisced about when he brought his grandchildren to the Maker Space to use the 3D printer when they were younger. They printed universal connectors for build-kits they used to work on instead of little toys because “they got more of a kick and use out of that.” 

 The video transfer equipment and 3D printer are just two features of the Maker Space that those with their own one-time projects or even master DIYers can utilize. 

Other equipment includes:

  • Laser engraver to use on wood, acrylic, paper, and cardboard.
  • Vinyl cutter for iron-on transfers or plaques.
  • Soldering station for making jewelry, fixing computers, or making stained glass.

Use of the equipment is free; fees apply for 3D printer filament, vinyl or solder.

Adults and families can tour the Maker Space, learn or use the equipment by making an appointment. Call The Edge at 417-837-5011.


PRESS CONTACTS

Vickie Hicks
Community Relations Director
vickieh@thelibrary.org
(417) 616-0564
Morgan Shannon
Copywriter
morgans@thelibrary.org
(417) 616-0566

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