Attention all gentlemen thinking of dressing up as a sexy librarian for Halloween: male sexy librarians look totally different from female sexy librarians. No glasses. No hair in a bun with a pencil stuck through it. No cardigan. No pumps. In fact, clothing is optional. Props, however, are required: a book is best, but a dog, a barbell, a toothbrush, or a KitchenAid mixer will do. A smile is nice, but not essential. Like this:

[#image: /photos/590953d71c7a8e33fb38aede]

These are four of the twelve men of the amazing 2012 Men of the Stacks calendar (O and Jacket Copy blogged it last week; it was too good not to reblog). They are all professional librarians, and they are all, from the looks of it, extremely well-read (check out the full gallery).

Why is there a calendar of male librarians in various states of undress, you wonder? First, to benefit a good cause: all proceeds will go to the It Gets Better Project, aimed at helping L.G.B.T.Q. teens make it through their high-school years. But this isn’t the only reason Messrs. January through December struck a pose. They did it to correct a widespread misperception. Yes, like any calendar worth its salt, Men of the Stacks comes with a mission statement:

We know what people think: Dewey, glasses, shushing, books, hairbuns, Party Girl and card catalogs. Yes, we know what people think. We know that the American, library profession is approximately 80% White and 72% female; and we know that tens of thousands of librarians are expected to reach age 65 in the next 5 years. We also know that this is not us.

There is an entire population of professional librarians out there who disagree with the way the library profession is perceived in contemporary media outlets and in the historical consciousness of the American mind. Different people and different associations will use different means to try to change those perceptions. This is ours.

Fight the power, guys. Your calendar is awesome. With any luck, you’ve changed Halloween forever, and now I know what to buy Jon (our very own male librarian) for Christmas.