This standard may save you money on purchases of steel, single-tier, freestanding shelving while ensuring that the shelving meets minimum performance requirements that can be verified by an independent testing laboratory. Since this is a performance standard rather than an engineering specification, Z39.73 allows for advances in materials, technology and engineering. It is based on information collected by the American Library Association from a quarter century of laboratory testing on the performance of single-tier steel library shelving. Both manufacturers and users of steel library shelving participated in its development.