Two messages.  ---------------Johnnie
 
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          Wed, 10 Nov 1993 18:11 EST
          Greg Durocher - Anchorage ESIC <GDUROCHER@USGSRESV>
          RE: earthquake preparedness
 
Bolting map storage units to the floor shouldn't be necessary unless they are
unusually tall.  The carpet would thwart "walking" which might occur on a bare
floor.  If you got an 8 or 9 magnitude quake, it might help, but with all the
other damage that would be done, there might be little added benefit.  I have
not been through that kind of quake, but have heard a lot of personal stories
of those who experienced the '64 quake.
 
Greg Durocher
Anchorage, Alaska
"Personal Opinion from the Last Frontier"
 
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          Wed, 10 Nov 93 18:56:06 PST
          "J. K. Herro"  <[log in to unmask]>
 
50 or 60 map cases in the Branner Earth Sciences Library collection
fell over during the Loma Prieta earthquake of October 1989, because
the drawers were allowed to rumble open and the weight of the maps
in the drawers pulled the cases right over into the aisle.
 
At Stanford's main library, another map collection had no map cases
go over.  This was a closed stack collection; all 120 cases were
barred & padlocked shut.
 
Our cases now have bars holding all drawers closed but not locked.
Sheet steel plates bolted to the sides gang the three-high stacks.
Side-by-side stacks are joined at their bases.  Where stacks stand
back-to-back those stacks are bolted with plates too.  No floor
bolts are used.  If you keep the drawers closed you won't need them.
 
This is not true for book stacks, which should be floor-anchored
with .375 x 3" bolts.  Carpeting should not run under stack bases at
all.  A community college library in Saratoga had 90% of their
stacks fail in the '89 quake because no boltholes were to be drilled
in the carpet.
 
Sorry, Janet, that is some bad news about the carpet.
 
JK Herro
Branner Earth Sciences Library and Map Collections
Mitchell Building  mc 2210
Stanford, CA  94305