On my campus tour as a senior in high school, I found my favorite place on campus, the stacks, particularly the ones across from the Great Reading Room. These stacks are filled with books from hundreds of years ago and sit upon glass flooring tiles that have become foggy over the years. Being in this area reminds me of all of the students that came before me. In a weird way it calms me, although I know many who become anxious walking on the glass flooring with low ceilings.
When life and all it includes becomes a little to much to bare, I find myself coming to this area to do nothing but explore. Looking at all of the old books and seeing what was being published at those times makes me feel as though everything I am stressing over will soon pass and be a distant memory that soon becomes forgotten all together. Perhaps one of the reasons I find it as calming as I do is because it is one of the only spots on campus that is quite, but not so quite you can hear your own heart beat. The stacks offer a quietness that is filled only with your own thoughts and the distant sounds of others conversing and studying.
While on my tour, I learned that it was in the stacks that a student fell through the glass floor and broke his neck. The tour guide pointed out a tile that was different from the others explaining it was the tile that broke. Whether or not the story is true or false, it still brings curiosity about it. Add that to the fact that many think the stacks are haunted by this individual and it is a place I cannot find myself avoiding. The story goes that you can see his footsteps above you as he searches for books.
There is so much history not only within the books, but the space itself whether true or not, that I find interesting and is one of the reasons I call the old stacks my favorite spot on campus.
The glass floorings that also serve as the ceiling tiles that a student reportedly fell through in the stacks.
