  We report spectroscopic observations with the Multiple Mirror Telescope for
11 damped Lyman-alpha absorbers (DLAs) or strong DLA candidates at 0.1 < z <
1.5, including several absorbers discovered in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. In
particular, we have measured absorption lines of Zn II, Cr II, Ni II, Fe II, Mn
II, Ti II, Ca II, and Si II. These measurements have doubled the sample of Zn
and Cr measurements at z < 1. The average relative abundance patterns in these
objects are very similar to those found for high-redshift DLAs reported in the
literature. Our observations suggest that the dust content, as determined by
[Cr/Zn], does not show much change with redshift. We also examine the sample
for correlation of [Cr/Zn] with estimates of the quasar reddening. Our data
suggest that the global mean metallicity of DLAs, as measured by the gas phase
abundance of Zn, at best shows a weak evolution with redshift over the range
0.4 < z <3.9.
