Librarians show their wild side

AUSTIN (KXAN) - When Texas libraries are damaged by a hurricane or tornado, replacing the collections can be expensive.

In order to raise money, some librarians are shedding more than their conservative persona to show off a side many might not expect all for a new calendar.

Photographer Mary Ann Emerson is the woman in charge of changing the stereotype about librarians.

"Conservative, status quo, quiet," said Emerson.

Emerson is taking pictures of the marks on librarians' bodies.

Gretchen Hoffman, the former president of the Texas Library Association , has a starfish tattooed onto her left shoulder blade.

"I wanted something that had to do with water because I really love being out in the water," said Hoffman.

Hoffman is one of 18 librarians showing off a different side to her profession in a new calendar featuring tattooed librarians from across the state of Texas.

"Of course everyone knows there are female librarians, so we had to come up with a gimmick, so it's tattooed ladies of TLA," said Emerson.

The gimmick started in 2008 with a calendar featuring male librarians.

"They are not just stuffy bookworms, they are diverse, come in all shapes, and sizes, and they are smart and funny and good looking," said Emerson.

So good looking the calendars sold out which raised lots of money for the Texas Library Association's disaster-relief fund .

"When there are natural disasters, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, things of that sort a lot of these librarians lose collections, facilities, and have problems getting everything back together," said Emerson.

So now it is the ladies' turn to show off their wild side.

"One of the things we really stand up for is freedom of speech and expression, so you really do get a surprising amount of unique people in libraries despite the stereotype," said Hoffmann.

The tattooed librarian calendar comes out at the end of July, it costs $20 and covers an 18-month period.