Margaret Cockshutt as an undergraduate student. Credit Torontonensis 1945.

b. Feb. 27, 1927, Brantford, ON; d. July, 9, 2023, Toronto, ON

1948 BA University of Toronto
1949 BLS University of Toronto
1964 MLS University of Toronto

1949–1961 Librarian, teacher of cataloguing, University of Toronto Library School
1964 Full-time instructor, University of Toronto, School of Library Science
1965–1992 Professor, University of Toronto
1984–1987 Associate Dean, University of Toronto, Faculty of Library and Information Science

Cockshutt, Margaret E. (1954). “The Lubetsky Report: its nature and significance.” Ontario Library Review 38, no. 3 (Aug. 1954): 243–251.

Cockshutt, Margaret E. (1961). Basic filing rules for use in the course in library records. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Jackson, Sidney L., Josey, E.J., Cockshutt, Margaret E., et al. (1969). “In review.” Journal of education for librarianship 9 (3): 274–282.

Cockshutt, Margaret E. (1971). “Professional development: a study of the opportunities available in Ontario Academic Libraries.” IPLO Quarterly 12, no. 4 (April 1971): 149–172.

Cockshutt, Margaret E (1972). “The Library School looks at education for librarianship.” IPLO Quarterly 14, no. 2 (Oct. 1972): 59–65.

Cockshutt, Margaret E. (1974). Professional involvement in the evolution of the Dewey decimal classification. Toronto: University of Toronto, Faculty of Library Science.

Cockshutt, Margaret E. (1974). “Involving students,” pp. 189–197 in Teaching in the universities: no one way, ed. by Edward F. Sheffield. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press.

Cockshutt, Margaret E. (1975). “Dewey today: an analysis of recent editions” in Major classification systems: the Dewey Centennial, ed. by Kathryn Luther Henderson, pp. 32–46. Urbana-Champaign: University of Illinois, Graduate School of Library Science.

Cockshutt, Margaret E. with the assistance of Glenna E. Stevens. (1981). Subject cataloging/classification sections [from the] Library of Congress Cataloging Service Bulletin. [ S.l :s.n.].

Cockshutt, Margaret E., Donald C. Cook, and Ann H. Schabas. (1983). “Decision logic for Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, Chapter 21 'Choice of Access Points'.” Library Resources & Technical Services 27 (4): 371–390.

American Library Association
Canadian Library Association
Ontario Library Association
Ex Libris Association. Member of the Library Education Anniversary Committee, 2002.
Decimal Classifiction Editorial Policy Committee (DCEPC). Canadian appointee member

Upon her retirement in 1992 and in honour of her long teaching career, a multimedia, interactive, electronic classroom for teaching, student use, and continuing education was planned and equipped in the Bissell Building, home to the Faculty of Information. In its most recent incarnation, the classroom continues to be one of the most technologically sophisticated classrooms on campus.

Professor Cockshutt “devoted her entire teaching career to the Faculty of Library and Information Science at U of T. She was also active in the administration of the School as Administrative Assistant to Dean Bertha Bassam, and from 1984-87, as Associate Dean. She retired at the rank of Emeritus Professor in 1992” [after forty-three years of service].
“Professor Cockshutt was open to using new technologies to help “transition from traditional library services to more technology-oriented services.” — former colleague and Dean Emerita Adele Fasick.

Professor Cockshutt was considered an expert both in cataloguing and the theory and application of classification systems. She was recognized internationally for her knowledge of the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC). Her advisory role on the Dewey Classification Editorial Policy Committee (DCEPC) helped in the development of editions 18, 19 and 20 of the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC). In her tribute to Professor Cockshutt, Professor Emerita Lynne Howarth stated “If we were to create a classification number to represent Professor Emerita Cockshutt, it would surely fit somewhere between 'remarkable' and 'truly memorable'.”

“The functions of a university professor are traditionally regarded as teaching, research, and publication. Certainly these three activities exist together as a triangle and cannot be separated, for each grows out of and enriches the other two. I have come to realize that teaching is the most important part of the triangle for me. I believe that teaching students is a valid activity in itself, although I recognize that my teaching is enriched by my other academic activities. Teaching allows me to analyse problems, to try to think creatively about their solutions, and to work with students to help them analyse and create and learn for themselves. Always as a teacher I shall have instances where I fail to communicate with another human being, but where I succeed, university teaching becomes vastly rewarding in itself.” — Margaret Cockshutt, Involving Students, 1974

University of Toronto. Faculty of Information (2023). Obituary:Professor Emerita Margaret Cockshutt. Accessed August 29, 2023.
Globe and Mail (July 22-26, 2023). Margaret Cockshutt obituary. Accessed August 29, 2023.
Haworth, Lynne. Cockshutt, Margaret Evelyn, February 27, 1927–July 9, 2023. Ex Libris Association site, “Remembering Our Colleagues and Friends" [Accessed August 29, 2023.]
ELA biography compiled by Trudy Bodak