About
Robin R. Harris holds a BA and an MA in English from the University of Louisville, and an MALS from the University of Kentucky. She has worked in academic libraries for more than 35 years and held positions including Instructional Services Librarian at Jefferson Community College, College of Business Library Liaison at UofL, and Reference Librarian at UofL’s Ekstrom Library. As the Public Services Librarian at the Brandeis School of Law, she oversees circulation, reference, and reserve; manages scheduling and library hours; manages accommodations for patrons with disabilities; facilitates library displays; recruits and hires student workers; and conducts library tours.
For over 20 years she chaired the law school’s award-winning Diversity Committee and will serve as co-chair during 2022-2023. She has represented the law school on a variety of university groups, including the Athletic Association Board of Directors (6 years), the Faculty Senate Planning & Budget Committee (10 years), the President’s Planning Advisory Committee (2 years), and the President’s Commission on Diversity and Racial Equality (6 years). From 2002-2004 she served as Chair of the President’s Commission on the Status of Women, after serving a 2-year term as Vice Chair. She chaired the Campus Environment Working Group of the Provost’s Strategic Planning Steering Committee, which developed the 2020 Plan, and in 2011 served on the Provost’s Women’s Center Planning Committee. She was elected to the University Club Board of Directors in 2018 and served a three-year term as faculty representative. She served as the law school’s representative on the Provost’s Sustainability Council from 2018-2020.
Professor Harris was elected to Beta Phi Mu Honor Society in 1981 and belongs to several professional organizations, including the American Association of Law Libraries as well as the Kentucky Library Association and its executive board. Since 2008 she has served as editor-in-chief of KLA’s peer-reviewed quarterly journal, Kentucky Libraries. She is one of the founding organizers of the Kentucky Women’s Book Festival (which began in 2006), and has co-chaired the festival since 2012. She was a founding member of the Louisville Mandolin Orchestra, which began performing in1988. The orchestra has performed at the Kentucky Center and the Brown Theatre, and in festivals in several American and European cities.
Professor Harris received the 1999 President’s Distinguished Service Award for Service to the University and the Community, the 2001 Brandeis Faculty Diversity Award, and the 2006 President’s Distinguished Faculty Award for Service to the University. She was named a U of L Champion 4 Her in 2008, and in 2016 received the Kentucky Library Association Outstanding Academic Librarian Award. In 2018, the UofL Women’s Center presented her with the Women’s Empowerment Award. In 2021 she was named a UofL Student Champion and received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Kentucky Library Association.
