Have you considered widening the doorways? For a thousand cabinets, I would consider modifying the path and keeping the drawers in the cabinets. Then move the cabinets in their original upright stacked position by means of a mechanical lift. It might prove to be less expensive, faster, and safer for the maps. "Free advice is worth what you pay for it." - Jim James Speed Hensinger [log in to unmask] JHensinger.org > -----Original Message----- > From: Maps-L: Discussion Forum for Maps, Air Photo, Map Librarianship, > GIS, etc. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Brendan Whyte > Sent: Sunday, January 04, 2015 3:45 PM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Moving map cabinets > > I have had a personal map collection in 2 completely full cabinets > shifted overseas and back and the removalists just hefted the full > cabinets onto/off their truck by sheer muscle power, and even up 1.5 > flights of stairs to my apartment. > But I agree it's not ideal for the cabinet, and if your doors are not > wide enough, the removalists will just flip the cabinet on edge... > > On a professional note, the National Library of Australia will shortly > begin replacing its 1000 cabinets (stacked 3 high on compactus bases) > in 3 stages over 2 years, which means we have to move the old cabinets > out in batches to a staging area, install new ones (on new compactus > bases), then move the maps themselves back in. > Because our doorways are not wide enough to get the cabinets out flat, > for each of the 10 drawers in each cabinet (10,000 drawers total) we > will have to: > > - place a piece of heavy card in the top of the drawer, > - tape it in place (wide parcel tape crosswise around the cabinet), > - stack the 10 drawers in order at 30 degrees from vertical in a > trolley. > - wheel trolley to other end of building. > - flip empty cabinet on end onto a trolley > - wheel cabinet to other end of building > - position cabinet correctly in staging area > - untape drawers > - install drawers in correct order. > > We have a professional stack-moving company that does all the National > Library's stack moving (usually books), but at least initially, this > move will be supervised by maps staff. > > The main trick with the staging area is that everything in it has to > remain accessible for the 6 months it will sit there, so keeping all > drawers and cabinets in order and correctly labelled is vital. > > > Brendan Whyte > National Library of Australia > > >