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 >