Maybe it's because I'm a film and video buff, but I just read an article that rocked my world a bit, and I recommend that you read it, too.
By Ken Weissman, a member of the LoC since 1982 who has overseen film restorations like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and The Maltese Falcon, his story is not a mere summary of how a couple of librarians dust off old film.
It's a tale of how we learned to preserve 140 million feet of nitrate-era combustibles (early celluloid prints that were banned for starting fires), copy damaged old stocks as pristine new films (using dry cleaning solution) and preserve the film we have now for up to 2000 years without hard drives (by freezing it).
You won't regret the read—I imagine everyone will learn something from it—so head on over to Creative Cow to check it out. [Creative Cow, Thanks bornonbord!]
(Note: The image here is of a paper print, not actual film—more on that in the article.)