Harlan Hatcher Graduate Labyrinth

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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!

Channel: Travel & Events
Uploaded: July 5, 2007 at 4:32 pm
Author: deidzoeb

Length: 00:04:23
Rating: 5.00
Views: 4342

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

Video Comments:
kidwellje (November 12, 2008 at 3:38 am)
I am a design major at Michigan, I'm currently in an independent study developing (redesigning) a map for Hatcher. It is a daunting and confusing task, hopefully the University will pay for printing so that one day students may find their way through the labyrinth.
MLafer (September 1, 2008 at 7:37 pm)
Fun video...I worked at the library for four years and I think I finally mastered the floor plan
WindmillMusic (August 4, 2008 at 8:32 am)
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 (August 5, 2008 at 3:43 am)
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.
sugaryxegnirys (June 19, 2008 at 11:52 am)
Funny ^_^ I like how you were attacked at the end.
Yechno (February 11, 2008 at 4:16 am)
5 Stars man. I go to this library to study at least three times a week and I never noticed some of the things you mentioned here (the six story bookcases for example).
chatnoir55 (July 22, 2007 at 7:42 am)
this is quite excellent glad I finally had a chance to watch it. I never would have had the guts to film in there.
allexx123 (July 7, 2007 at 2:24 am)
LOL what a nightmare that building is. I think that I had nightmares about places like this.
DieselBodine (July 6, 2007 at 10:49 am)
Damn! What a place that is! Freaky! 5 Biggies & Fav'ed
tndragonfly (July 6, 2007 at 5:16 am)
I was thinking how much that library is like a hospital...then you showed the lines painted on the floor and I knew I had made quite the accurate analogy.
The "Fortunato children"...great guffaw!
5/5 and favorited!
~~renae