The 17-40L is a 17-40mm lens. So on a 60D, it's more like 27mm at the wide end. But Canon sell a 10-22mm lens for this purpose (I have one here), which gives the equivalent of 16-35mm on a 10/20/30/40/50/60D camera body.

The photo below, has about a 10' wide field of view, at one metre from the front of the bookshelves.