Dewey Decimal divas

Each team has a choreographer, like Katy Gibson, who put her team through a final rehearsal: "One, two, three, four, watch your line, turn on five," she called out to the Book Divas from Houston, a powerhouse group of elementary school librarians that captured the Texas Library Association crown two years running, and placed second in the nationals last year. They're aiming for gold this time and sponsored their trip to Washington by selling a Book Divas calendar – like the English Calendar Girls, but everyone's fully clothed – posed in their trademark feather boas and appropriate book props for each month. At Sunday's championships they were decked out in Rosie the Riveter costumes, their lead cart sporting airplane wings and a propeller, and the motto "Reading is Riveting" emblazoned on their shirts.

"Let's practice our throws," a member of the Readin' & Rollin' team from Milford, Ohio, said to her partner, as they shot book carts to one another in time to a spiced-up version of "Flight of the Bumble Bee." "This is our toughest maneuver," explains Marlene Noschong, and on the shiny convention center floors the carts were moving faster than the team was accustomed to (they practice on carpet) and their timing needed adjustment. Teams also adapt their performances to different venues: Parades, for example, call for different costumes and moves.

"The community loves us in the parades," says Noschong of the Ohio troupe, which performs in parades for the Cincinnati Reds Opening Day and the Fourth of July. "They don't expect it. And we reach people who don't necessarily come into the library, but now they see us in a different light. It absolutely has a positive effect."

The Delaware Diamonds team, resplendent in black outfits with silver rhinestones, had a case of the jitters, and with good reason: It was their debut. It's a statewide team, drawn from 55 librarians who answered the call to try out. Regulations cap teams at 12, and the test was to do the hokey pokey with a straight face. The state librarian of Delaware, Annie Norman, made the cut, and on Sunday all aglitter, she waited nervously for the Diamonds to take their first bow: "We were trying to get rid of our stodgy image," she laughed, "and now we've gone straight to an eccentric image."

"I think it means a lot to the community, seeing librarians spoofing themselves," said Deidre Ross, director of conference services for the ALA. She started the world championship in 2005 when she realized how popular the drill teams were becoming in local communities. "You don't picture librarians doing this."

With the "graying" of the library profession – half of all credentialed librarians will reach retirement age in the coming decade – there is hope that this new fun and funky image of the modern librarian will help recruit young people to the field.

When the carts got rolling, the competition was stiff. Chris Rich of the Readin' & Rollin' team brought the house down with his finale: an audacious one-wheeled spin, the triple Lutz of book cart stunts. Everyone grooved along to the "Jungle Boogie" beat of the Gettysburg Gett Down With Your Funky Shelf team performance, and they won high artistic scores. The Delaware Diamonds were stunning in their Busby Berkeley tribute, complete with a feather-fanned dancer sashaying atop a runway of book carts. And the Houston Book Divas stole the crowd's heart striking that famous Rosie the Riveter muscle pose.

When the scores were tallied, it was close, but the Book Divas rolled home on the golden book cart (it'll be shipped to Houston, where celebrations are planned). The Gettysburg Funky Shelf took the silver-painted cart, and the Delaware Diamonds captured the bronze.

"I was dazzled; it was fantastic," exclaimed Holly Bunt, director of the Western Reserve Academy library in Hudson, Ohio. She and her colleagues immediately began thinking about forming their own drill team. That's the way the drill team idea seeds itself across the land.

"It shows we can do more than sit at a desk and check books in and out," said Ms. Bunt. "It shows we have creativity and coordination."

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