Silly rack idea?

[End Times]

I've been making plans to build a rack out of melamine. A thought occured to me today, though.

I have two identical bookshelves that I don't really need. They are made out of that cheap particle board stuff, with a false finish to make it look like wood. You know, like the stuff that most computer desks are made of. Now, it's not the really thin cheap crap that warps within a couple weeks... It's the better quality particle board... if that even makes sense... Hope I'm getting the point across here... Basically they are not real wood, but they are not the cheapest quality of particle board either....

Anyway, do you think it would be possible to build a rack using these? I'm not overly concerned about the strength of the material, they've held dozens of books for years without problem, but was more thinking about the heating issue. Would these things be o.k. with constant heat from say heat tape or heating cable?

Anyone have any thoughts as to the suitability of using these bookshelves, or perhaps have any ideas as to how I might go about doing it? I was thinking of maybe removing the hardboard backing from one of them, then then attaching them together to make one deeper shelving unit rather than two separate book cases as the shelves as they are now wouldn't be wide enough to properly accomodate rubbermaids...