Inspiration Lab - General Technology Skills   Tags: inspiration_lab, saving_files, usb  

See your project libguide for information on what to bring with you to work on your project. Bring a USB Drive or have a Cloud Storage account that you can save to. If you are working on large digital video, audio, or high definition image projects, you may need a significant amount of storage space.

When recording in the Inspiration Lab, it is important to give yourself enough time to save your work and exit the workstation 10 minutes before your booked time ends. Lab staff need time to prepare the space for the next booking.

For more information on this see the following pages in this guide:

• Using External Storage
• Using Cloud Storage
• File Format Info

Allow time before the end of your booking for large file transfers. This may take 30 (or more) minutes.

After saving your files on your USB (recommended), external hard drive, or cloud storage, and you are sure you have saved your work, use the “Delete All Work Files” icon on the desktop to ensure that your files and personal information are erased before the next person uses the computer.

To clear your infromation, double click the icon, then confirm by clicking "yes".

The Inspiration Lab is a space dedicated to digital creativity, collaboration and storytelling- free, with your library card.

You can:

• create and edit audio and video recordings
• convert VHS, audio cassettes, photographs, and slides, into digital files
• format written work into eBooks

The Inspiration Lab features high-performance computers, analog-to-digital conversion, sound studios, video editing and self-publishing software.

While using VPL's Inspiration Lab, working on projects will require some basic skills around file saving, sharing, and troubleshooting. This guide is meant to lay out some of the basic challenges that a user may face when getting started.

This guide will go over the basics of how to store projects you are working on using both USB Drive and Cloud Storage options, and a glossary of terms.

The Inspiration Lab has specialised software, studio space, and equipment to help you create and experiment with traditional and digital media. Studios, equipment, and computers within the Inspiration Lab are available for booking if you have a library card with the Vancouver Public Library.

The Inspiration Lab is open during regular Central library hours (although the recording studios close half an hour before the rest of the library).

Recording studios, Digitization Stations, and Creation Stations can be booked for maximum of 3 hours per day. Bookings can be made up to two weeks in advance. For more information on booking, please see the full booking instructions.

We recommend you begin saving your project or work at least 30 minutes before the end of your session. This is in case you have large files to transfer or you want to burn your work to a disc.