In this newly created position, Tom Bruno comes to Princeton University Library from his role as Director of Access Services at University of Pennsylvania Libraries, where he was responsible for overseeing and shaping strategic direction of public-facing services and library operations for the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center and Penn’s departmental libraries and off-site facility. He also represented Penn at IvyPlus and other regional, national, and international engagements for access services and resource sharing. Tom’s long experience of librarianship includes multiple high-level prior roles in access and resource sharing at Harvard, Yale, and NYU. He has an MLIS from Simmons College, and a BA in Ancient Greek and Latin from Boston University. 

What is Content Access (CA)? 

Content Access is about optimizing seamless access to a vast universe of locally-owned and shared-access print, digital and digitized library resources, and enhancing the Library’s performance in fulfilling all its patrons’ content needs – for individual learning, research, or teaching. 

What trends in higher education prompted the creation of this department at PUL? 

Academic libraries are going through a period of rapid change. Trends that were already in motion, such as the shift from print to electronic resources, were accelerated by the pandemic and show no signs of slowing. At the same time, however, print materials are still a critical part of the research and education process, with unique and special collections of increasing importance to scholars. How do we balance providing access to more traditional library resources while anticipating the future needs of our faculty, students, and staff? The Content Access department at PUL is helping the Princeton community navigate this complex and evolving information ecosystem.

How can members of the university take advantage of the services offered by the department?

The best thing about our library services is that they're so easy to use! Just visit library accounts  to see all of the options available to you- you can also stop by any of our service desks for assistance or contact us online and we'll point you in the right direction.

What is your favorite aspect of your work? 

Content Access is all about making connections. My favorite thing about my job so far is meeting all of the people who make our work possible! As one of PUL's liaisons with ReCAP, I am also still a little bit awestruck every time I get to visit the ReCAP facility.

What are some goals for the recently created Department of Content Access?

The important thing to remember is that while Content Access is a newly created department, the staff in CA who work tirelessly to support our library operations and ensure the highest levels of service are the same. Now that we have all of these teams under one department, however, we hope to find new and more effective ways to do this work as we move forward together and collaborate with our stakeholders in PUL, other University departments, and our library partners around the world. For example, we are currently in the process of hiring an Accessibility Digitization Specialist, who will provide dedicated and programmatic support for library patrons with accessibility needs and help to make all of our library services more accessible.

Published on April 22, 2024

Interview by Brandon Johnson, Communications Strategist

Media Contact: Stephanie Oster, Publicity Manager