KALAMAZOO, MI -- While attending a librarian conference to research digital labs, Kevin King heard one story that stuck with him.

A library in Illinois has a digital lab where its patrons can visit and digitize their old photos, VHS tapes, slides and more. A man visited the library with a VHS tape -- the only item he salvaged from a house fire. Using the library's services, he was able to convert the VHS to DVD and pull stills from the video to get old family photos consumed in the blaze.

The Hub

What: Digital lab for library patrons

Where: Third floor of the Central Library, 315 S. Rose St.

Hours: 3-8 p.m. Tuesdays;10 a.m.-3 p.m. Thursdays

What it offers

Four Digitization Stations:

• Dell XPS 8700 Win7 PCs

• 27 inch Apple iMac

Four Production Stations:

• 27 inch Apple iMacs

• Dell XPS 8700 Win7 PC

Hardware and Peripherals:

• Blue Yeti Microphones

• Canon 9000F Scanners

• Honestech VHS to DVD

• ION Tape Express

• ION Profile Vinyl-to-MP3

• Bose Companion 2 Speakers Productivity & Creativity: • Adobe Creative Cloud: - Photoshop - Illustrator - Premiere Pro - Audition - Lightroom 5.4 - Acrobat Pro XI - Forms Central

• Apple iLife Suite: - iPhoto - iMovie - Garageband

• Final Cut Pro

• Apple Motion 5

• Anime Studio

• Audacity

On Tuesday, the Kalamazoo Public Library will hold the grand opening of its new digital lab, The Hub. The event will be held at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday on third floor of the Central Library, 315 S. Rose St.

The space hosts eight computers -- separated into four digitization stations and four production stations -- that are equipped with a variety of programs to enable library patrons to do everything from preserve vinyl records, convert cassette tapes to CDs or VHS to DVD, edit video or digitize negatives, old photos and slides, among other options.

"One of the goals in here is to provide this high-end software package to people who wouldn't normally be able to afford it," said King, who is Head, Branch and IT Services at the Kalamazoo Public Library.

He added, "Anything that has magnetic tape, we can digitize and preserve it."

The Hub cannot convert 8 track or 8 millimeter film, King said.

In addition to the four PCs and four Macs, which are decked out with several different programs, some that are rather expensive, The Hub has two scanners and a 70-inch flat-screen TV to view your finished project. The TV also has Bose speakers and headphones to listen to end result. King, who said he started researching digital labs more than a year ago, said the entire project cost about $74,000, with 90 percent coming from gifts, grants and interest from the library's endowment. The rest of the funding came out of the operating budget and capital improvement.

The services are free and you can reserve lab time online.

For those looking to convert video or photos to a disc, you'll need to provide the DVDs. Also, if you plan to convert VHS to DVD, it happens in real time so plan accordingly -- don't show up with a box of old Disney movies and expect to walk out with a handful of DVDs in a couple hours.

King said this is just the first phase of his plans for The Hub. The back wall will eventually be painted to serve as a green screen wall and he hopes to add video and recording equipment and a sound booth. He also plans to offer software to enable people to self publish their books.

The Hub also owns 30 Chromebooks that the library will use for educational purposes. The Hub is located beside the Van Deusen Room, which often hosts special events including music concerts and readings. King said they plan to use the room and laptops to teach people to learn coding, online safety, how to set up a Facebook page or tutorials on using Ancestry.com, the genealogy website.

"It's been a total dream of mine to do this for the longest time. It's been fun building and making it happen. It's a unique service," he said.

For more information about The Hub, call 269-342-9837 or go to www.kpl.gov/hub.

John Liberty covers entertainment for the Kalamazoo Gazette. Call him at 269-370-7372, email him at jlibert1@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter.