...
>The question is, what do we need to put in the recovery procedure to handle
>this?  I can probably prevent it by setting reusedelay on the tapepool, but
>we're short on tape slots most of the time, and letting the reclaimed tapes
>pend until the oldest DB backup expires like we do our copypool tapes would
>overflow the library.
...

Obviously, your site is negating the safeguards provided by TSM by not adhering
to an "enterprise" level approach, as the product requires.  Defeating
Reusedelay is very nasty, and almost guarantees the loss of storage pool data.

Your scenario has been discussed many times on the List.  Potential things you
can do are:
 - Expand the library to give it the capacity it needs for reasonable operation.
 - Go for higher density tape drives and tapes, to increase library capacity
   without physical expansion.
 - Buy tape racks and employ a discipline which keeps dormant tapes outside the
   library, available for mounting via request.

 Richard Sims     http://people.bu.edu/rbs