I have a question. Is any decision here in the USA impacted by library 
compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act? I gather most of 
the distances being discussed comply with that standard, but is there an 
exemption for stacks not used by most public clients?

         Joel Kovarsky


On 8/3/16 12:39 AM, Brendan Whyte wrote:
>
> We've just installed 10,000 drawers of 1m deep bespoke US-made cases 
> (with proud handles additional to the 1m depth) in a compactus with 
> 1.01m aisles (case front to case front, ignoring handles).
>
> A standard sized user [i.e. non-obese/non-American] can stand behind 
> the open drawer to remove/reshelve maps, and the drawers themselves 
> are less deep than the 1m cabinet, so can be removed from the cases by 
> two people, one each side of the drawer.
>
>
> The aisle width was intended to allow drawers to be physically 
> removed/replaced, but still maximise rows of cases and minimise aisle 
> width. (and fit sensibly in our stack space which is studded with 
> pillars).
>
>
> Brendan Whyte
>
> National Library of Australia
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Date:    Tue, 2 Aug 2016 02:26:04 +0000
> From:    Kathy Stroud <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Best Practices - Aisle Width between map cases
>
> All,
>
> It seems I've seen this somewhere but I can't locate it.  Is there a 
> best practice distance for placing map cases facing each other (what's 
> the aisle width between map cases with drawers opening facing each 
> other?) We're going through re-envisioning our map space and I'll 
> hoping for numbers to add weight to my estimates. I already know that 
> a 40" aisle is not going to be adequate for a 40" deep map case.  It 
> would be impossible to get drawers in and out when needed and be 
> difficult to work around fully opened drawers.  My gut feeling tells 
> me that 48" is the minimum and 56" would be ideal.  This is an area 
> that is open access to patrons so it's not just the librarians that 
> need to be able to maneuver in the space.
>
> Anyone have any authoritative sources?
>
> Thanks in advanced,
>
> Kathy
>