Senior Community Library Manager Michael Beller is known around Orinda for his big smile, bigger heart and infectious joie de vivre.
It’s not every guy who loves dressing up as a giant bunny to hop around entertaining preschoolers hyped up on chocolate eggs.
But, then again, Michael Beller is not just any guy.
“It’s absolutely wonderful!” Beller gushed about the annual Rotary Spring Egg Hunt, where he has taken center stage for the past two years. “It brings such joy to the children. The
adults are happy just watching their kids, and happy that someone is there celebrating that meaningful community moment. Even a Spring Bunny can be a hero.”
Anyone who knows Beller can’t help but be charmed by his infectious joie de vivre. Whether he is pushing a red, white and blue cart full of flowers and books in the 4th of July parade, or proudly beaming about the number of E-book check-outs and max-capacity toddler storytimes at the Orinda Library, Beller’s joy-o-meter is consistently off the charts.
So who IS this bundle of positivity? Was he created in some magic factory that assembles real-life people out of rainbows and Disney movies and freshly spun cotton candy?
Read on to learn more about Michael Beller, Senior Community Library Manager of the Orinda branch.
This intense sense of joy and excitement seems to radiate from you – all the time! Where does that come from?
I am certainly a glass-three-quarters-full type of person, and I think I can wear a lot of people out. There’s so many interesting, beautiful, fascinating things in this world – which is part of the reason I became a librarian, because I get to work with all of them.
I just love interacting with people, with the world around us, and seeing the collaborative effects we can have on each other. Every day is an absolute joy because people are just so interesting, and the world is so interesting.
If something is really disappointing or upsetting, I may take a few moments to acknowledge that, but I can easily be distracted again by the next fascinating thing. And I’m always looking for things that I love, which are pretty much everything except cilantro.
I am deeply, deeply hurt by cilantro for being that way. I just don’t get it.
How did you become interested in libraries?
My parents were researchers, grad students and scholars. Growing up, I spent a lot of time at the library and I learned to love libraries. My sister and I would play tag late at night in the stacks at the Doe Library in Berkeley, while our parents were studying. We would make games of trying to find the oldest books or the neatest images.
Later, by circumstance and luck, Beller came into possession of a rare 1603 edition of a book he was obsessed with while he was a student at the University of Oregon. To learn how to care for the book, he volunteered in the Special Collections department in the university’s library for three years. At the end of that time, he knew he was going to library school.
I got my Master’s Degree in library science at San Jose State University while working at Stanford, then went to Mills College, in Oakland, where I worked for 15 years.
You won an award there?
I won two awards. In 2014, I won the “I Love My Librarian Award,” sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and The New York Times.
But the award that meant the most to me was the Pearl M Award I received in 2009, from the students at Mills College. That’s the one that really matters, because the students voted me the most influential staff or faculty member of that year.
What’s your favorite thing about your job?
Serving the community. The library is a place where the community can come and get the resources they need, whether it’s entertainment or information or space to work or meet. I like being there for people and being of service.
Moving on to your personal life – you’re married to Karen Paulsen, an Orinda native. How did you meet?
It was the 80s and I was at Berkeley High and she was at Miramonte. We all loved New Wave and goth music and punk. There was a cafe in Berkeley where a bunch of us would hang out, and she was friends with my friends and we got to know each other.
Over the years we lost touch. Then about 15 years ago, she friended me on Facebook. Coincidentally, I had been thinking about her, and we reconnected. We spent a couple days together and went on a couple dates and realized there was something there. We got married in 2012.
Karen’s mom still lives in their family home just off of Glorietta. We lived in their backyard cottage while prepping for the wedding. Now we live in Pinole.
What are your hobbies?
I do a fair amount of reading. I love my records, my LPs. I used to DJ. I love all sorts of music. I get as excited listening to music as I do talking about books.
How would you describe yourself?
Enthusiastic. Also, super curious. If I don’t know you, I want to. If I don’t know your story, I want to hear it.
What makes you happy, besides being the Spring Bunny?
People, community, the world around me. I love serving the public, and I really love Orinda.
It holds on to its calmness while being forward-thinking and community-oriented. I’ve never been in a place as focused on community service as Orinda. The way Orinda treats its people is inspirational. I want to make sure the library is part of that.
Michael Beller met his wife, Karen Paulsen, at a cafe when they were students – he at Berkeley High and she at Miramonte. They lost touch and reconnected several years later via Facebook. They are pictured here at the Rotary Club of Orinda’s Dancing with the Cars 2024 Fundraiser where Michael volunteered as auctioneer.