I've been looking for years for a way I could make the tiniest contribution to game preservation. My most viable option seem to be getting a high quality scanner and scanning magazines, manuals, and box art. I've also noticed that while there's a great guide on how to scan material, there's no good consensus or where the files are placed or how they're organized. For example, MobyGames has an excellent assortment of scans. But they're not preservation grade scans. Internet Archive has plenty of scans, but their tagging isn't standardized. It's possible to scan something that's already been done. Perhaps the best option would be to organize all of the places that hold scans and attempt to build a standard.

I'm sure you're familiar with MAME... I wonder if they have some kind of file structure or database that holds those materials?

If you see this, email me (see my profile). Would love to discuss scanning methods. I'm creating a magazine encyclopedia, and I have a lot of past experience with scanning that I would love to use to build up a wiki for preservation techniques.