Health information professional (HIP) refers to “information professionals, librarians, or
informaticists who have special knowledge in quality health information resources” (MLA,
2017, para. 2). The diversity of emerging HIP roles indicates daunting challenges unique to LIS
students pursuing HIP careers and to LIS programs endeavoring to develop and update
specialized LIS curricula for HIPs. This poster explicates action research built upon the findings
of a sequential two-phase project, which included a scoping literature review of scholarly
publications on the topic of HIP roles and skills and a survey of employers on the competencies
and attributes expected of entry-level HIPs (Ma et al., 2018; Ma et al., 2020). This action
research project seeks to create a HIP Concentration and Certificate with course learning
outcomes developed and adapted from core HIP professional competencies and employer
expectations identified in the two-phase project. Students planning to pursue the HIP
Concentration or the HIP Certificate may customize their trajectory with courses including
health sciences librarianship, consumer health information, a seminar in current issues for HIP,
health informatics, health information systems and management, and health disparities for
diverse health communities. Through adapting and consolidating existing courses, LIS faculty
and advisors can effectively counsel students early in their studies, inform them of required
professional competencies and desirable qualifications, and facilitate work-integrated or preprofessional
learning opportunities within and beyond the curriculum. It is hoped that this project
will provide an evidence-based approach to developing future specialized HIP programs in LIS
education
