b. Sept. 24, 1932, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago; d. April 1, 2016, Guelph, ON

Flora Blizzard Francis, about 2010.

1958 ALA Associate of the Library Assocation (UK), Eastern Caribbean Regional Library School, Port of Spain (now the College of Science, Technology and Applied Arts of Trinidad and Tobago)
1965 BA Waterloo Lutheran University (now Wilfrid Laurier University)
1969 BLS University of Toronto
1978 MLS University of Toronto

1952–1958 Librarian, Trinidad Central and Public Library, Port of Spain (now the National Library of Trinidad and Tobago)
1959–1968 Reference Assistant, Massey Library, Ontario Agricultural College and Federated Colleges (after 1964 the University of Guelph)
1969–1994 Librarian, University of Guelph Library (various positions especially map librarian).

Blizzard, Flora (1969). “Library Students Meet the Profession.” Ontario Library Review 53, no. 3 (Sept.): 131–134.
Blizzard, Flora (1970). West Indians in Canada: A Selected Annotated Bibliography. Guelph: University of Guelph Library.
Blizzard, Flora (1973). “Report on the Library Technician Survey in Ontario,” OLA Newsletter 11 (July): 14.
Francis, Flora (1980). “The Map Collection at he University of Guelph: An Evaluation,” Bulletin of the Association of Canadian Map Libraries 37 (Dec.): 23–33.
Francis, Flora (2000). A Black Canadian Bibliography. Ottawa: Pan-African Publications (foreword by Rita M. Cox).
Francis, Flora, Janet Simms-Baldwin (Chair) and others (2013). The Soroptimist Foundation of Canada: 50 Years. [Peterborough?]: Soroptimist Foundation.

American Library Association
Canadian Library Association
Association of Canadian Map Libraries and Archives
Institute of Professional Librarians of Ontario
Guelph Black Heritage Society

1996 Hall of Fame Award, Soroptimist International
2001 Ontario Volunteer Service Award to mark thirty-five years volunteering with the Guelph Spring Festival
2011 Flora was a founding member of the GBHS Board of Directors, and their Director of Archives
2022 The Flora Blzzard Francis Memorial Library was formally opened on September 25th by the Guelph Black Heritage Society.

The collection of the Flora Blizzard Francis Memorial Library circulates and consists of Black literature, with special emphasis on literature from the Carribean and by Carribean authors. A substantial number of books from her own extensive library formed the basis for the library, and donated funds are used to enhance and develop the collection. Flora was the unofficial photographer at the ACMLA conferences for many years.

Who’s Who in Black Canada 2: Black Success and Black Excellence in Canada (2006), pp. 144–145.
Suzette Giles, “Libraries Named after Librarians: Flora Blizzard Francis Memorial Library,” ELAN, no. 71, Spring 2022: 8.
ELA biography compiled by Bernard Katz