HERstory: Remembering Kay Climie, Chief Librarian 1951-1977

The Sault Ste. Marie Public Library has employed many hard-working, and dedicated women over its 125-year existence.

Women held leadership roles at the library during a time when women were less visible in the professional workforce. During the mid-20th century, female employees guided the library through a rapidly-changing era with much success.

One such woman was Katherine Margaret Climie, better known to the community as Miss Kay Climie.

In a Sault Star article from Jan. 21, 1960, staff reporter Barbara Baggs summed up the modern librarian quite accurately.

She stated that “…the modern library is less a reservoir than a fountain. Its librarian is an active, aggressive factor in popular education. He or she recognizes fully the duty to get and keep [books], but puts far above this the greater duty of making books useful. The old library was of interest to a learned few. The modern library has won a place beside the public school. For the overwhelming majority, the quickest and easiest access to the world’s best thoughts is through the public library. In Sault Ste. Marie, it is Miss Kay Climie, Chief Librarian and her staff who open the library doors and library books to everyone.”

Climie was born and raised in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. She began her library career as a high school student, shelving books after school. In 1932 she became one of only seven permanent employees at the Queen Street Carnegie Library.

She went on to receive her diploma in librarianship at the University of Toronto Library School in 1938, at the age of 25. In 1951, following the death of Jean Florence Smith, Climie became the new Chief Librarian.

Climie was honoured with awards during her career as a librarian.

In 1958, she was granted a Grade B Certificate of Librarianship by the Ministry of Education. This certification was awarded to Climie under the Public Libraries Act of the province. The award was given to what the Ministry described as “a person whom the Director of Public Library Service recommends as having made an outstanding contribution to the development of public library service in Ontario”.

On Jan. 10, 1967, The Business and Professional Club honoured Climie for being chosen as the Business Woman of the Year.

By the mid-1960s, Sault Ste. Marie was in need of a new, larger library space and increased community services.

Built in 1909, the Carnegie Library was designed to hold approximately 2,000 books but held approximately 40,000 books by the mid-century.

In 1964, City Council agreed to build a new public library building as Sault Ste. Marie’s Centennial project. As Chief Librarian, Kay Climie would oversee the massive move from the Carnegie Library to the new Centennial Library on East Street.

The library system further expanded during Climie’s directorship with the addition of the East and Korah Branches in 1966 and 1967, respectively.

Climie had a strong social awareness.

In January of 1972, the Corporation of the City of Sault Ste. Marie was celebrating its 60th anniversary. Looking ahead to the future, the Sault Star Women’s Page asked a number of prominent local women to comment on the direction the City of Sault Ste. Marie should be taking.

Climie provided a clear answer as to how she believed the city could continue to improve the lives of women and girls: “Women should be active in public life on boards and in elected offices. Not just because they are women, but as people, in their own right, women have capabilities and talents that can be of great value in community life. I don’t think anyone can generalize about female talents, any more than one can say that all males have certain talents. Men and women are individual human beings and should be judged as such. The drive for success that is often attributed to males is more a matter of conditioning and opportunity than an inherent quality… One of the major steps taken in the Sault recently is the establishment of a daycare centre. This is a step in the right direction. It enables women to have the desire, or the need to work outside the home to do so with a minimum stress on themselves and their families…This is the direction for Sault Ste. Marie: constructive social awareness, practical application of new ideas, and the extension of already existing programs in the social and cultural fields.”

Climie retired from the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library in 1977 after an impressive 46-year career.

At the time of her retirement, the population of Sault Ste. Marie had risen to 80,000. Subsequently, the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library system underwent exponential growth.

The library now operated at four branch locations: Steelton, Korah Branch, East Branch and Centennial. Approximately 70 full-time and part-time staff were employed. Mr. Brian Ingram would replace Climie as Chief Librarian.

Miss Kay Climie passed away on Sunday, Nov. 30, 1986. She left behind a legacy of success at the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library.

Each week, the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library and its Archives provides SooToday readers with a glimpse of the city’s past.

Find out more of what the Public Library has to offer at www.ssmpl.ca and look for more Remember This? columns here.