b. January 20, 1918, Auburn, Maine; d. May 22, 2005, Vancouver, BC

Sheila A. Egoff. Credit Canadian Children's Literature, 1994.

1937 Graduate of Galt Collegiate (now in Cambridge, Ontario}
1938 Diploma in Librarianship, University of Toronto
1948 BA (University of Toronto);
1949 Diploma in Librarianship (University College, London)
1950 FLA, Fellow of the Library Association (UK)

1938–1942, Librarian. Galt Public Library
1942–1952, Children's Librarian, Boys and Girls House, Toronto Public Library
1952–1957, Reference Librarian, Toronto Public Library
1957–1962, Editor, Canadian Library Association
1962–1984, Professor, School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, University of British Columbia

Egoff, Sheila A. (1951). “Books of Yesterday.” Library Journal 77, no. 4 (February 15): 275–277.

Egoff, Sheila A. and Elizabeth H. Morton (1958). “Library Education Abroad.” Canadian Library Association Bulletin 14, no. 5 (April): 223–224.

Egoff, Sheila A. (1960). “Read It on Microfilm.” American Library Association Bulletin 54, no. 4 (April): 286–286.

Egoff, Sheila A. (1967). The Republic of Childhood: A Critical Guide to Canadian Children’s Books. Toronto: Oxford University Press [revised as The New Republic of Childhood, 1990, with Judith Saltman]

Egoff, Sheila A. (1967). Canadian Folklore. Ottawa: Canadian Library Association. [Presented at the IFLA/FIAB Council, Public Library and Children’s Section, August 18, 1967]

Egoff, Sheila A. (1972). “Home Thoughts from Aboard [on Books and Publishing].” In Proceedings of the Canadian Library Association 27th Annual Conference, Regina, Saskatchewan, June 10–16, 1972, 97–101. Ottawa: Canadian Library Association.

Egoff, Sheila A. (1972) “Reflections and Distortions: Canadian Folklore as Portrayed in Children’s Literature.” International Library Review 4, no. 3: 265–279.

Egoff, Sheila A. and Alvine Belise (1973). Notable Canadian children's books = Un choix de livres canadiens pour la jeunesse; an annotated catalogue. Ottawa: National Library of Canada.

Egoff, Sheila A. (1973). “La Littérature de Jeunesse Au Canada-Anglais.” Documentation et Bibliothèques 19, no. 4 (déc.): 169–171.

Egoff, Sheila A. ed. (1979). One Ocean Touching: Papers from the First Pacific Rim Conference on Children’s Literature [held at University of British Columbia, 1976]. Metuchen, N.J: Scarecrow Press.

Egoff, Sheila A.(1981). Thursday's child: trends and patterns in contemporary children's literature. Chicago: American Library Association.

Egoff, Sheila A. (1982). “‘Which One’s the Mockingbird?’ Children’s Literature from the 1920s to the Present.” Theory into Practice 21, no. 4: 239–246.

Egoff, Sheila A. (1988). World within: children's fantasy from the Middle Ages to today. Chicago: American Library Association.

Egoff, Sheila A., Margaret Burke, Ronald Hagler and Joan Pert. (1992). Canadian children's books, 1799-1939, in the Special Collections and University Archives Division, University of British Columbia library: a bibliographical catalogue. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Library.

Egoff, Sheila A. G.T. Stubbs and L.F. Ashley, eds. (1996). Only connect: readings on children's literature 2d ed. Toronto: Oxford University Press.

Egoff, Sheila A. (2005). Once upon a time: my life with children's books. Orca Book Publishers.

American Library Association, Canadian Library Association, Library Association (UK), British Columbia Library Association, Association of British Columbia Librarians

1994 Officer of the Order of Canada
1982 American Library Association Ralph R. Shaw Award for Library Literature (for Thursday's child)
1983 University of Utah, 5th Landau Award for Excellence in Teaching and Young Adult Literature
2002 Queen Elizabeth II Commemorative Golden Jubilee Medal
Honorary Doctorates from University of Victoria (1997), University of Alberta (1985), and University of New Brunswick (1986)

Professor Egoff was instrumental in negotiating the transfer of the Osborne Collection of Early English Children's Books to Boys and Girls House, Toronto Public Library, 1949.

“Sheila Egoff was the first critic of children's literature from Canada to be recognized internationally. Her contribution to children's literature scholarship is broad ranging, involving many interests and approaches, from Canadian and international children's literature to scholarly bibliography of early and rare children's book collections. Sheila has written seminal works of children's literature scholarship for over fifty years, beginning in the 1950s, a time when little serious scholarship was available, and children's literature was not respected in the academy. Through her teaching, advocacy, and scholarship, she was one of the early ground-breaking academics and critics who worked to bring the present acceptance and recognition of children's literature as a legitimate scholarly discipline into being.” — Judith Saltman in ABC Bookworld, May 2005

Saltman, Judith. (2005). Sheila Egoff, pioneer Canadian children's literature critic and professor of children's literature. Toronto: Canadian Children's Book Centre. Accessed July 25, 2013.
Obituary by Sandra Martin. Globe and Mail, May 28, 2005. Accessed August 15, 2023.
Directory of Library and Information Professionals (1988). Chicago: American Library Association. v. 1.
Sheila Egoff biography at HLWIKI Canada. Accessed July 25, 2023.