(AP) - Part of University alum Gerald Ford's history lies right on campus and is open to students interested in exploring the life of the former president.

The Gerald R. Ford Library on North Campus has announced extended hours. The lobby will be open 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 1 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, for about seven days beginning Thursday.

Condolence books, which will be passed on to the Ford family, will be available for signing at the Ann Arbor site starting Thursday.

"Everyone here at the library and museum has enormous respect and affection for someone who provided really critical leadership for our country at a very difficult time, so we are very saddened by the loss," library director Elaine Didier said.

A stream of visitors lit candles, draped flags and placed flowers Wednesday at a makeshift memorial outside the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum following the former president's death.

The museum in Grand Rapids said it was closing until further notice due to Ford's death but its vestibule was opened to visitors around the clock to sign condolence books. About 200 people had signed them by late Wednesday morning.

Within an hour of the announcement Tuesday night of Ford's death, visitors made their way to the museum. A University of Michigan banner was placed at the memorial for Ford, who played center on the school's 1932 and 1933 national champion football teams.

Lou Nichols, a 79-year-old retired business owner from Grand Rapids, stopped by the museum to pay his respects.

"He was a congressman, then a president for 2 1/2 years and while he was in there, he did a very good job," Nichols said. "He was a wonderful man."

John Milroy, an 81-year-old retired banker from Alpena, said he was visiting family in the area for the Christmas holiday. Milroy said he always was proud of Ford's time in the White House.

"I think he did a very good job because the country needed more confidence in our government, they had lost it," Milroy said. "He was just a good, steady guy. He was the right man at the right time."

Ford, who represented Michigan's 5th District in Congress from 1949-1974, spent most of his boyhood in Grand Rapids. After World War II service, he went back to practicing law in Grand Rapids and became active in Republican reform politics.

The Ford Museum opened to the public in September 1981. The galleries feature hands-on, interactive, video, and holographic displays, such as exhibits of Ford at work in the Oval Office and pop culture of the 1970s.

The museum is part of the presidential libraries system of the National Archives and Records Administration, a Federal agency.

Unlike other presidential libraries, the museum is geographically separate from the library and archives. The Ford Museum is at 303 Pearl St. NW, Grand Rapids and the library is at 1000 Beal Ave., Ann Arbor.

Despite the physical separation, the library and museum are a single institution.