Speaker Placement for small room???

Trying to spend some time with my system to make sure I have it set up as well as possible in my room before taking additional steps to "treat" the room.

My problem is that I have a very small room 9'W x 12'D. I have book shelves along one wall that stick out about 14", not sure if that counts as wall when placing the speakers or not. I have tried the measurements on the Cardas website and they seem to have me sitting about 3-4 feet from the speakers which seems a little strange. So,

1. Are the cardas calculations for a minimum sized room?
2. When calculating the distance from the wall, should i calculate from the wall or the bookshelves?
3. Is there a minimum amount of separation for speakers? Currently they are approx. 4' apart which seems a little close.

I am driving Totem Model 1 sig's with a bryston integrated amp.

Any advice or insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks