Tattooed Librarians & Archivists

I’m currently attending library school through UW-Milwaukee. I have a total of six tattoos, most of them literary (I was an English major as an undergrad), but my biggest and most colorful tat is an ode to Flannery O’Connor on my left forearm. Work done by Keith at Skinprints in Eau Claire, WI - he loves peacock feathers, and draws them beautifully.

they will be posted in order as they come in. If you haven’t contributed to the tumblr yet, send in your ink!

Hi there,

I am a high school librarian and library department chair at a college prep K-12 school in southern California.  I have recently begun getting tattooed now that I’m in my mid-40s!  I have three so far, on my upper arms - a hamsa, a hoopoe bird with my Hebrew name Tzipora (bird) and my latest piece, pictured below.  I asked my artist to create a superhero librarian and gave him a few references, including the cover of “This Book is Overdue” and a picture of 1940s comic book hero Mary Marvel.  This is the result.  I’m happy with her and can’t wait to get more…

Michelle

Since we haven’t had any librarian or archivist tattoo submissions in a while I figured I’d fill the gap with some literary tattoo sites (break out those cameras!). Happy viewing!

Contrariwise: Literary Tattoos

www.contrariwise.org

The Word Made Flesh

tattoolit.com

Bookworms With Ink

literarytattoos.livejournal.com

Remember to send in your photos!

Title: digital library architect
Type of repository: Hydra Project
Location: Pennsyltucky
Background information about your tattoo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raven_(mythology)#Raven_steals_the_sun
 

Formerly the Chicago Underground Library, Read/Write Library will be hosting a grand opening celebration tomorrow night in their shiny new space. For more details, go here.

I hope to see some tattooed librarians and archivists out there wishing this organization well!

Hey all. Just to get the ball rolling on this space, I would like to share some thoughts about how to go about submitting photos in a way that you feel comfortable. 

Depending on the institution that you work in you may feel that posting to this blog would be chancy due to anti-tattoo policies or corporate image standards. If that is the case feel free to post only closeups of your work to preserve your anonymity. I would also be happy to have submissions emailed to me if you do not want to post from an account tied to your name. If that’s the case, DM me for contact info.

Another concern that I saw on feedback seemed to mirror how I generally feel about posting photographs of my ink online - there can be a fear that showing what you have increases the risk that someone might rip it off. If that is a concern I would recommend being photographed from a distance that allows viewers to get an idea of what your style is while not giving such a close up view that the details of the piece are easily duplicated. Sometimes the real beauty in tattoo photography is seeing the overall effect that the work has on someone’s look rather than the execution of any one design.

I hope to hear from you soon, and, more importantly, see what you have to show!

Welcome tattooed librarians, archivists, curators, and the people who love them. We are now accepting submissions to be included in this community blog. Please submit 1-2 photos of your ink with a mind towards keeping things as work friendly as possible. Bonus points for photos of your tattoos taken in library, archives, or museum collections spaces.

I would like to borrow a page from Librarian Wardrobe by asking that you to include some basic information with your submissions, namely:

• Your position title or student status

• Type of repository

• Location

• Background information about your tattoos if you feel comfortable getting personal about them

I have seen some excellent ink at ALA and SAA conferences, so hopefully some of my peers will come out and show their colors!