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Yes, we have found the number of damaged issues increasing, and yes, they are
almost always U.S. journals. It is very frustrating indeed.

As for a telephone number for the "lost issues department"--good luck. We have
tried to track this down through our local P.O. and the regional P.O. Both told
us that each post office keeps these issues for 2-4 weeks, and then when no
one claims them, they are discarded (never fails to send a stabbing pain
through me). There is no way of telling what P.O. the lost issue will end up
at, as who knows when the label comes loose, gets defaced, or is otherwise
obliterated. We have also been told that if there is no label, the P.O. will
sometimes send the issue to the "most likely" user, for example, an issue of a
medical journal to us. Then we have to try to locate its home at one of the
likely medical institutions here -- or it is off to USBE with it.

Sheryl Williams
Head, Serials Dept.
McGoogan Library of Medicine
Univ Nebr Medical Center
swilliam@unmcvm
swilliam@unmcvm.unmc.edu (Internet)