Katherine (Smith) Packer BA portrait. Credit Torontonensis 1941.

b. March 20, 1918, Toronto, ON; d. Oct. 9, 2006, Toronto, ON

1941 BA (University of Toronto)
1953 AMLS (University of Michigan)
1975 PhD (University of Maryland)

1953-1955 Rare Book Cataloguer, William L.Clemens Library, University of Michigan
1956-1959 Cataloguer, University of Manitoba
1959-1963 Catalogue Information Librarian, University of Toronto
1963-1964 Head Cataloguer, York University Library
1964-1967 Chief Librarian, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
1967-1979 Assistant and Associate Professor, School of Library Science, University of Toronto
1979-1984 Professor and Dean, Faculty of Library and Information Science, University of Toronto
1984-2006 Professor Emerita

Packer, Katherine H. (1954). Early American school books: a bibliography based on the Boston Booksellers' catalogues of 1804. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, Dept. of Library Science.

Packer, Katherine H., Delores L. Phillips, eds., and Katharine L. Ball, supervising ed. (1969). The code and the cataloguer: proceedings of the Colloquium on the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules held at the School of Library Science, University of Toronto on March 31 and April 1, 1967. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Packer, Katherine H. (1975). Methods used by chemists and chemical engineers In Canadian universities to maintain current awareness with special reference to the Use of SDI systems. (PhD thesis, University of Maryland)

Packer, Katherine H. and Ann H. Schabas (1975). “Indexing,” pp. 139–144 (Appendix 8) in Martin L. Friedland, Access to the Law: A Study Conducted for the Law Reform Commission of Canada. Toronto: Carswell.

Packer, Katherine H. (1976). “Report on Canadian Library Statistics.” Toronto: University of Toronto, Faculty of Library Science.

Katharine H. Packer and Ann H. Schabas (1976). “The Imprint Date in the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules,” Library Resources & Technical Services 20 (spring): 123–130.

Packer, Katherine H. and Dagobert Soergel (1978). The Importance of SDI for current awareness in fields with severe scatter of information. Toronto: Faculty of Library Science, University of Toronto.

Packer, Katherine H. (1979). “A Study of Job Opportunities in Canada for Professional Librarians,” Ontario Library Review 63 (March): 4–11.

Packer, Katherine H. (1981). “User reactions to the microcatalogue: implications for the design of online catalogues.” In: Myths and realities: the politics: the politics of library administration. Ann Arbor: School of Library Science, University of Michigan).

Packer, Katherine H. and J. Michael Michaud (1982). “The Use and Users of COM Catalogues at the University of Toronto and the Mississauga Library E20 System,” Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 3 (Fall): 1–25.

Active on professional associations both nationally and internationally
1965-1966 Chair of Ontario Association of College and University Libraries
1965-1969 Member of American Library Association Committees
1964-1979 Member of Canadian Library Association Committees
1975-1981 Service on Committees of FID and IFLA
2000-2004 Board of Ex Libris Association; Co-chair of the Recruitment Committee and Membership Secretary

“From the beginning Katherine strove to further the application of technology in library operations and library education through her teaching and research … She will be remembered not only by faculty, students and her many friends and associates as a distinguished practitioner, teacher and administrator, and for her determination and dedication to library and information science in general and to FIS and its goals and achievements in particular - but mostly for her lively intellect, warm personality, sense of humour and friendship.” (Henderson and Williamson).

1972 CLA Howard V. Phalin/World Book Graduate Scholarship for Library Science
1980 University of Michigan Distinguished Alumnus Award

Henderson, Diane and Nancy Williamson. “In Memoriam: Katherine Packer, 1918-2006.” ELAN, 41 (Spring 2007): 15.
Lee Ash, ed., A Biographical Directory of Librarians in the United States and Canada, 5th ed. Chicago: American Library Association, 1970, p. 834.
Curriculum Vita, Faculty of Information, University of Toronto.