University Libraries

By Katy Kelly

Student success librarian and assistant professor Zachary Lewis is the recipient of the 2022-23 John Brubaker Memorial Award, an honor bestowed annually to authors featured in Catholic Library World, the journal of the Catholic Library Association. 

Lewis’ winning article, “Committing to the Common Good: Reframing Student Success Using Catholic Social Teaching,” describes his approaches to holistic student success by incorporating social values. In his engagement with various campus communities, Lewis includes connections between the University of Dayton’s Commitment to Community, its diversity, equity, and inclusion practices, and the Roman Catholic Church’s themes of Catholic social teaching (CST). Read the full article on eCommons, UD’s institutional repository, a service of the University Libraries.

“Committing to the Common Good'' showcases an example of Libraries faculty scholarship and practice that is rooted in UD’s Catholic and Marianist identity. Lewis’ article demonstrates how these values are intentionally incorporated in the UD student experience. The award citation commends how Lewis “moves beyond measures of academic achievement to take a more holistic view of student success.” 

This is the second year in a row that UD librarians have received this award and third time overall. Kayla Harris, director of the Marian Library and associate professor, and Sarah Burke Cahalan, former director of the Marian Library, were recognized in 2021-22 for their article “Mary, Undoer of Knots: Unraveling Best Practices for Unwanted Donations and Deaccessioned Collection Items in a Catholic Library.” Former visual resources librarian Jillian Ewalt received the award in 2017 for her case study “Archival Exhibits as Interdisciplinary Teaching Tools.”

— Katy Kelly is a professor and the University Libraries’ assistant dean for strategic communication and outreach.