Kayla Harris

Kayla provides focused leadership for special collections within the University Libraries, which include the Marian Library, U.S. Catholic Special Collection and University Archives and Special Collections.

The special collections of the University Libraries are essential to the historical and living vitality of the Marianist mission and scholarship. From the breadth of resources in the Marian Library, one of the world’s largest and only dedicated collections focused on Mary, the mother of Jesus; to the U.S. Catholic Special Collection embodying Catholic identity; to the institutional records in University Archives and Special Collections that celebrate the history and development of the University of Dayton as a top-tier Catholic research university; these special collections are used across disciplines to empower learning, scholarship and creative expression.

• M.L.I.S., University of South Carolina (2011)
• B.A., Michigan State University (2010)

• Certified Archivist, Academy of Certified Archivists
• Digital Archives Specialist (DAS), Society of American Archivists

• Outreach and instruction with special collections
• Web archiving
• Marian devotion

• Cahalan, S. B. & Harris, K. (forthcoming 2025). Pilgrim pamphlets: Pocket guides to Christian tourism in twentieth-century Britain. In C. Armstrong & J. Hinks (Eds.), Print tourism, part of the “Print Networks” series. Centre for Printing History & Culture (CPHC).
• Harris, K. & Shreffler, S. (2024, April). COVID-19 web archives: Evolving Catholic and Marian devotional practices. In M. Welsh and I. Burke (Eds.), Personalizing the pandemic: Experiences of theological & religious studies librarians during COVID-19. Books@Atla Open Press. https://books.atla.com/atlapress/catalog/book/96
• Harris, K. (2023, November). Digital devotion: Marian shrines online. In K. Park & K. Dugan (Eds.), American patroness: Marian shrines and the making of US. Catholicism.
• Harris, K., Beis, C., Shreffler, S. (2022, January). Citizen web archivists: Applying web archiving as a pedagogical tool. Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship, 33(4). https://doi.org/10.1080/1941126X.2021.1988463
• Harris, K. (2021, May) Two chefs are better than one: Partner image analysis. In J. Porterfield (Ed.), Teaching with archives and Special Collections Cookbook. Association of College and Research Libraries.
• Harris, K. & Shreffler, S. (2021, March). Archiving Catholic faith on the web during the COVID-19 pandemic. Catholic Library World, 91(3), 188-193.
• Handley, H. & Harris, K. (2020, December). Retaining opportunities, completing key projects with remote student employees during COVID-19. Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals, 17(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/1550190620980732
• Cahalan, S. B. & Harris, K. (2020, September). Mary, undoer of knots: Unraveling best practices for unwanted donations and deaccessioned collection items in a Catholic library. Catholic Library World, 91(1), 25-33.
• Beis, C., Harris, K., Shreffler, S. (2019, June). Accessing web archives: Integrating an Archive-It collection into EBSCO Discovery Service. The Journal of Web Librarianship 13(3). https://doi.org/10.1080/19322909.2019.1625844
• Harris, K., Shreffler, S., Gauder, H. (2018, September). The archives as classroom: A primary source mini course. Case Studies on Teaching with Primary Sources.
• Curran, C. & Burns, K. (2011). A methodology for studying the information seeking behavior of Catholic clergy. Advances in the Study of Information and Religion, 92-108. https://doi.org/10.21038/asir.2011.0005