What an IDEA!
by Max Gulden
As December approaches, the time has come to celebrate a very special anniversary: the opening of the Ames Public Library’s IDEA Center!
Haven’t heard of it? Well, the upcoming anniversary provides an excellent opportunity to review what makes the IDEA Center special.
Let’s start with the name. The “IDEA” in IDEA Center stands for Inspire, Design, Explore, Archive, which gives you a sense for how you can use the space.
Within the IDEA Center, you have access to a wide range of technologies that enable you to undertake a similarly wide range of tasks.
There are three separate stations in the IDEA Center.
Each station has a Mac Studio computer with Apple Final Cut Pro editing software installed.
Each Mac also has the Adobe Creative Cloud software suite, which includes Adobe Acrobat, Illustrator, Photoshop, and Premiere Pro, as well as much more.
In addition, each station has hardware and software specific to its primary intended uses.
Station one is specialized for editing and digital content creation. It includes a Wacom drawing tablet, stylus, and software that allow individuals to create and edit graphic designs and artwork, in addition to many other tasks.
Whether you aspire to become a digital artist or want to touch up existing digital images, videos, and more, station one has you covered.
Station two is specialized for digital scanning and has an Epson Expression 12000XL scanner. It also has specialized scanner software in the form of Epson Scan 2 and SilverFast 9, each of which has a range of features and options to optimize your scan results.
If you’ve got some old family photos, boxes of slides stored in the attic, or your favorite personal artwork to scan, station two is made for you.
Further, this station provides holders designed for scanning multiple standard sized photographs, negatives, or slides all at once, allowing for efficient batch scanning and digital file creation.
Station three is specialized for analog to digital tape conversion, and includes an electronics rack with all the hardware necessary to convert formats including VHS, VHS-C, cassette, and microcassette into high quality digital files.
If you’ve been debating between keeping your old tapes for the memories they hold or tossing them to save space, consider station three as it gives you the best of both options.
So, take a chance and give the IDEA Center a look, whatever idea you might have in mind.