I work in processing and I spend more time opening journals than I do
checking them in and claiming missing issues *combined*. I'd rather claim a
few damaged journals in a year (which I rarely do, anyway) than deal with
all the plastic wrappings.

If I can't have unwrapped, I'd prefer paper envelopes to plastic. Paper
recycling is much easier than recycling plastic bags, which, at MIT, have to
be mailed separately to the recycling coordinator rather than picked up by
custodial staff. I'm the last person to handle the library mail, but it
seems that few to none of our unwrapped journals arrive damaged, and those
that do get mangled don't seem to get so badly damaged that I need to
replace them.

Laura McWilliams
Senior Processing Assistant and Working Green Ambassador,
MIT Science & Engineering Libraries