texas library association


Tattooed Ladies of The Texas Library Association,
A fundraising activity for the TLA LIBRARY DISASTER RELIEF FUND, this TLA calendar showcases the charms and often concealed art of 18 women of the Texas library community. As members of the Texas Library Association, these women volunteered to reveal their ink and share some of their stories for the well-being of our state’s libraries.

I spend a lot of time in Texas Libraries, I have library cards for Grand Prairie, Fort Worth, Dallas, Irving, and Houston and a TexShare card in case I find another library I’d like to check a book out from. For the most part, the people I see shelving books and scanning bar codes are not people I would pay to see naked. But the nude, semi-nude, and often clever fundraising calender is here to stay. If it’s good enough for policeman and firemen to show some skin for calendars, why not library workers?

Tattoos are all the rage these days, and I must admit that I have watched a couple of episodes of Miami Ink, or was it London Ink? or L.A. Ink? One of those shows were sideshow personalities try to tell us they are just normal people, who happen to be covered head to toe with tattoos. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I like the idea of moderation and find some tattoos very interesting.

The sample photos for the TLA Calendar feature a bunch of women who look like librarians-with a few odd and interesting tattoos. I suppose it could have been worse, they could be showing off their piercings instead.

Of course, this is not really a pin up calendar, The Tattooed Ladies of TLA hope to raise money. The TLA calendars cost $20 and has 40 pages for their 18 months. As a professional portrait photographer I am not too impressed with the photos, but the tattoos are prominently featured.

Well, not everyone can look like tattoo goddess Kat Von D-and I think that’s a good thing.