Harlan Hatcher Graduate Labyrinth

No map devised by mortals can show you the way out of this library once you become lost.

Update! 24 July 2007. Today in the second floor south elevator lobby, I noticed a vending machine containing the following study aids:
pens, highlighters, energy bars, tic tacs, earbud headphones, blank CDs, Tylenol, packs of index cards, and 512MB USB thumb drives (only $10!).

I am not making this up. "Staff at the Information Center desk get a few phone calls every term from students on cell phones trying to find their way out of the stacks." - according to a blog on lib.umich.edu! http://mblog.lib.umich.edu/Firehose/archives/2008/04/virtual_library.html

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• university
• michigan
• u-m
• uofm
• hatcher
• library
• labyrinth
• r'lyeh

[Wszachta]

Lol, i study in the South Stacks, The building isnt that complicated... Though it can be explored a lot lol, def easy to get lost. The connector over to shapiro and the other one to west hall make the labrynth even bigger, though those buildings are nowhere near as complicated as hatcher.

[deidzoeb]

The part that seriously frustrates me is when you are on one floor and you find that the stairway or elevator that you're on doesn't connect with the floor you need to get to. The place is really more like two or three buildings beside each other that connect in a few places. Not the way elevators or stairways are set up in most buildings.

I haven't technically been "lost" in Hatcher before, but I've often headed down an elevator or stairway and had to turn back and find another way.

[WindmillMusic]

The bookcases really 'were' built to be several stories high with only platforms for walking... this makes climate control easier in a stack environment. Books hate changes in temperature and humidity. The more you know. Great video!

[deidzoeb]

That makes sense. I've seen similar systems in other libraries. The part that really worries me is those glass floor panels in some areas. I can already sense that the library was built for people of average heights from maybe the 1900s or 1930s. (I sense this directly with forehead versus doorway.) If the floors were built to support the kind of average weights of Michiganders in the 1900s or 30s, then I'm a crashing News of the Weird story waiting to happen.

[um1996]

Ha, nice video.. brings back some memories. I miss that building in a strange way....

[aplace2grow]

I spent 5 years in the Labyrinth until I finally made it out. Upon which feat they promptly awarded me a Ph.D. (I still have nightmares about the elevators!)

[Maximus705]

I'm trying to write a paper on floor 3 of Hatcher right now. I have a standard exit formula that usually works, but if I make a misstep I'm finished; no door ever opens to the same room twice!

[marqueA2]

Too funny!

[TheWickedWitchOfOz]

I'm "studying" on the 6th floor right now!

[Wszachta]

This video inspired me to wander around yesterday just before closing and it was a good time. That building does have some weird stairwells and little nooks that go nowhere. Those stairwells on either side of hte side South stacks are pointless. It is interesting to see how they connected the old hatcher to the newer stacks buildings. It really is 2 buildings just butted up next to each other with the floors not even lining up..

[xShinigamiMichie]

I have got to explore this library.