University of Oregon alum Michael Beller is a star librarian at the Mills College Library. He wears kooky outfits, has perfected secret handshakes, and dances on bars when he DJs at a nearby club. Oh, and he’ll hustle you through the stacks (not that way!) if you need some help looking for reference books.

The Mills Campanil reports:

According to Beller, much of his formal education went not so smoothly. He was a high school dropout and made several attempts at community college before enrolling at the University of Oregon.

 

"They couldn't keep me out," Beller said. "But you could tell they wanted to."

 

He took the History of England at U of O and found a passion for John Stowe's Survey of London. Beller gets almost flustered when he talks about the book, excited by his edition with extra indexes and cross-references. A friend of Beller's father and curator of rare books sent him the 1603 edition and Beller was amazed that he was holding something created before the country he lived in had been created.

 

He went to the special collections librarian at U of O and asked about the Survey, and was convinced to become a volunteer in the department…

 

After he graduated from U of O, he worked at Stanford University's library and worked for his degree in Information and Library Sciences from San Jose State University.

After eight years at Stanford, he came to Mills in 2002.

Yeah Beller’s been around the library block a few times, but who else gets all hot and bothered by the 1603 edition of Survey of London? Beller puts the big O in Oregon alum.