Preservation of records—in all their formats, including digital—is a high priority in my work, because access suffers when materials erode over time. Part of my job is ensuring that our materials are preserved in two major ways: One is physically storing them to slow the degradation process as much as possible; the other is to digitize the materials, so that when the physical objects are too fragile to handle, we can still access the content. This plus discoverability through our systems of organization gives us the foundation for maintaining good access to our unique materials. 

This applies to family records as well! Preservation of family collections is a great way to honor Preservation Month: many of us have a large stash of photographs, negatives, slides, video tapes, audio cassettes, and more.