Most analytical studies focusing on the sliding of building contents usually make an assumption that the friction force-sliding displacement behaviour is elasto-plastic (e.g. friction coefficient remains constant during sliding). This preliminary study uses experimental data to verify if this assumption is reasonable. Shake table tests of a desk on common flooring materials were conducted to investigate the factors influencing friction behaviour, and to observe the behaviour of the contents under sinusoidal motion. Up to a 15% decrease in friction coefficient was observed with either an 80% increase in mass or a 20 times decrease in relative velocity, indicating that the friction coefficient is dependent on these two parameters. A comparison of the experimental and analytical sliding response of the desk under a single sinusoidal loading pattern on carpet flooring was conducted. Results show that the displacement amplitude of a single sliding excursion and the general sliding trend is well approximated using the elasto-plastic assumption. As such, despite the dependence of friction coefficient on sliding mass and velocity, the elasto-plastic behaviour assumption appears to be reasonable for the sinusoidal loading pattern examined in this paper.