Recent disasters and their effects on libraries remind us of the vulnerability of library collections. A water-related disaster at Colorado State University (CSU) in 1997 resulted in a large recovery operation, the last part of which included a project to replace by repurchasing more than 9,000 bound journal volumes. This project began with a sampling technique to help determine replacement cost, continued with a detailed request for proposal, and ended with a productive collaboration between CSU Libraries and Absolute Backorder Services, Inc. The article includes perspectives by both library and vendor staff. Serials Review 2006; 32:26-34. D 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.The recent series of natural disasters impacting libraries illustrates not only the vulnerability of library collections but, despite careful planning, the impossibility of preventing such catastrophes. Unfortunately, the number and magnitude of these disasters seem to be increasing. The flood at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 2004, for example, swept through a technical services area destroying many hard-to-replace items, while the widespread devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 is just being assessed at the time of this writing. The many types of libraries in Katrina's wake and the variety of collections affected will require a variety of solutions.These emerging stories again bring to mind the horrific experience of suddenly finding one's collection destroyed and trying to decide what to do. In 1997, Colorado State University Libraries (CSU) found itself coping with replacing over 500,000 volumes after a large water-related disaster. As Hawaii and the many victims of Katrina begin the long road to recovery and seek advice from other libraries, we thought it might be useful to offer an update of our experience using one of the ways libraries may recover lost collections-replacing bound journals by repurchasing.

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With all the recent interest and discussion regarding electronic journals, it would be easy to get the impression that printed volumes are becoming obsolete. Five representatives from various aspects of the serials information chain (back issue vendor, archivist of electronic journals, journal publisher, and librarian) explore the continuing importance of the printed archive, and describe their vision of the future coexistence of electronic and