Tubby
09-20-2005, 01:00 PM
Librarians flash some skin for a good cause
By TOM KERTSCHER
Flashing some flesh as well as their own cash, six Waupaca-area library administrators have produced "Desperate Librarians," a sexy but tasteful calendar they're selling to raise money for their libraries.
Desperate Librarians
Lisa Hein, assistant director at Marion’s library, is featured in the April and September photos of the "Desperate Librarians” calendar.
How to Buy
Send a check to: Desperate Librarians, E6282 Slough Road, Weyauwega, WI 54983. Cost is $20, plus $2.50 shipping for one calendar; for each additional calendar, add $1 shipping. Proceeds benefit the public libraries in Weyauwega, Clintonville, Waupaca, Marion, Seymour and Manawa.
The five middle-aged library directors and a 32-year-old assistant each put up $200 and posed provocatively, using oversize books to cover what their clothes usually do.
The result, courtesy of a photo studio that donated its time to the effort, is a 2006 wall calendar that puts the lie to the librarian wearing the hair bun and sensible shoes.
And it's all because Craig Lahm is getting ready to retire.
"It's probably going to be a collector's item," Lahm said of the calendar. "I'm going to be eBaying it in 20 years."
When it became known that Lahm would retire after 32 years of running Kaukauna's library, his colleagues in the Outagamie Waupaca Library System started plotting to come up with the perfect gift. Twelve of them decided they would use photographs of themselves to make a simple calendar that they would print at a Walgreens.
But after the librarians took their idea to Countryside Photographers in Seymour, they realized their gift would involve considerable cost and effort. After consulting with Countryside's Steve Kemp, they decided to professionally produce a calendar, like the local volunteer fire department had, and sell it as a fund-raiser.
That's when six of the 12 librarians bailed out. They weren't ready to model undraped for a calendar that would be sold around town.
No matter. The other six librarians decided they would each pose for two months.
"There's probably three photos taken of me, that I like, in my entire life, and two of them are in this calendar," said Ellen Connor, Manawa's library director.
The women appear to be naked in many of the photos, but all were at least partly clothed during the shoot, said Connor, 45, who is featured in a blue boa in December. Placing one or more books in strategic positions helps lend to the mystery, she said.
The idea was taken from the movie "Calendar Girls," in which the members of a stuffy British women's club pose semi-nude for a charity calendar.
The librarians' calendar says desperate times call for desperate measures, and explains that sales of the calendar benefit Waupaca-area libraries.
Connor said the women knew their idea was offbeat, so they decided to put up their own money, rather than ask their library boards to foot the bill. But they all got permission from their boards to participate and agreed to donate any profits to their libraries, she said.
The project was completed by the time Weyauwega library director Lucie Erickson, the oldest model on the calendar, celebrated her 60th birthday in August. She and Seymour library director Elizabeth Timmins, who also appears, are credited with organizing the project.
Lisa Hein, 32, the assistant director at Marion's library, said the calendar was great fun but also has a serious side.
Hein said the Marion city budget is so tight that the library may not be able to raise spending in 2006 even to cover the increased costs of utilities. If sales of "Desperate Librarians" take off, it would help, she said.
By TOM KERTSCHER
Flashing some flesh as well as their own cash, six Waupaca-area library administrators have produced "Desperate Librarians," a sexy but tasteful calendar they're selling to raise money for their libraries.
Desperate Librarians
Lisa Hein, assistant director at Marion’s library, is featured in the April and September photos of the "Desperate Librarians” calendar.
How to Buy
Send a check to: Desperate Librarians, E6282 Slough Road, Weyauwega, WI 54983. Cost is $20, plus $2.50 shipping for one calendar; for each additional calendar, add $1 shipping. Proceeds benefit the public libraries in Weyauwega, Clintonville, Waupaca, Marion, Seymour and Manawa.
The five middle-aged library directors and a 32-year-old assistant each put up $200 and posed provocatively, using oversize books to cover what their clothes usually do.
The result, courtesy of a photo studio that donated its time to the effort, is a 2006 wall calendar that puts the lie to the librarian wearing the hair bun and sensible shoes.
And it's all because Craig Lahm is getting ready to retire.
"It's probably going to be a collector's item," Lahm said of the calendar. "I'm going to be eBaying it in 20 years."
When it became known that Lahm would retire after 32 years of running Kaukauna's library, his colleagues in the Outagamie Waupaca Library System started plotting to come up with the perfect gift. Twelve of them decided they would use photographs of themselves to make a simple calendar that they would print at a Walgreens.
But after the librarians took their idea to Countryside Photographers in Seymour, they realized their gift would involve considerable cost and effort. After consulting with Countryside's Steve Kemp, they decided to professionally produce a calendar, like the local volunteer fire department had, and sell it as a fund-raiser.
That's when six of the 12 librarians bailed out. They weren't ready to model undraped for a calendar that would be sold around town.
No matter. The other six librarians decided they would each pose for two months.
"There's probably three photos taken of me, that I like, in my entire life, and two of them are in this calendar," said Ellen Connor, Manawa's library director.
The women appear to be naked in many of the photos, but all were at least partly clothed during the shoot, said Connor, 45, who is featured in a blue boa in December. Placing one or more books in strategic positions helps lend to the mystery, she said.
The idea was taken from the movie "Calendar Girls," in which the members of a stuffy British women's club pose semi-nude for a charity calendar.
The librarians' calendar says desperate times call for desperate measures, and explains that sales of the calendar benefit Waupaca-area libraries.
Connor said the women knew their idea was offbeat, so they decided to put up their own money, rather than ask their library boards to foot the bill. But they all got permission from their boards to participate and agreed to donate any profits to their libraries, she said.
The project was completed by the time Weyauwega library director Lucie Erickson, the oldest model on the calendar, celebrated her 60th birthday in August. She and Seymour library director Elizabeth Timmins, who also appears, are credited with organizing the project.
Lisa Hein, 32, the assistant director at Marion's library, said the calendar was great fun but also has a serious side.
Hein said the Marion city budget is so tight that the library may not be able to raise spending in 2006 even to cover the increased costs of utilities. If sales of "Desperate Librarians" take off, it would help, she said.