Maybe I can add a bit of personal experience to that.  Being in
Pensacola, FL and having been hit by Ivan last year (oops no longer last
year) and parts or all of 5 storms this past summer (Arlene, Cindy,
Dennis, Katrina, Rita), one of our main routes for mail delivery was
through New Orleans; I know we have periodicals floating around in the
Gulf.  Our claiming person has had many more items to claim this past
year and a half.  If we didn't check-in issues, we wouldn't know if
issues were being eaten by fish or hanging in trees and we would have
many sizable holes in our collection.
(By the way we were able to plug most of the holes, which is better than
having to rebuild an entire library, so we were fortunate.)
Jean Shankle

-----Original Message-----
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum
[mailto:SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU] On Behalf Of Glenn Jaeger
Sent: Tuesday, January 17, 2006 3:26 PM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: Re: [SERIALST] Looking for other libraries that have eliminated
check-in

Please allow me to add another reason why it's important to check in
print journals. It verifies that you physically have/had them within
your facility which is essential for disaster recovery. If you cannot
prove that specific titles and volumes were indeed received, FEMA and/or
your insurance company will not pay for that replacement. Think of how
the libraries affected by Katrina, Rita and Wilma will identify what
they lost.
My guess is that their check in records will be a primary tool.
Rebuilding a library collection is difficult enough, imagine what it
would be like if you didn't know what you had?