Katherine M. Ruffin teaches the history of the book at the School of Library and Information Science at Simmons University. She holds an A.B. in Philosophy from Bryn Mawr College, an M.F.A. in the Book Arts from the University of Alabama, and a Ph.D. in Library and Information Science from Simmons University.
She is the Director of the Book Studies Program and a Lecturer in Art at Wellesley College. She teaches the history of 19th and 20th century typography and printing at Rare Book School at the University of Virginia.
Katherine's research interests include the history of printing, bibliography, and libraries. Her dissertation was titled "Carl Purington Rollins and the Bibliographical Press at Yale University." In 2017, Katherine gave the Hofer Lecture at the Houghton Library at Harvard University on the topic of "Books as Portals: Reading and Responding to Historical Collections in the 21st Century."
Katherine has published limited edition books and broadsides under the imprint of Shinola Press since 1994. The School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Alabama hosted a solo exhibition of her work in the spring of 2016.
From 2016 to 2020, Katherine was the Vice President for Publications for the American Printing History Association. She serves on the Board of Advisors for the Bookbinding Program at the North Bennet Street School and on the Advisory Board for the Program in the History of the Book in American Culture at the American Antiquarian Society.