Angela Lee 
Health Sciences Librarian & Associate Professor 
Pacific University Oregon, Hillsboro 

Where do you currently work and what is your position? 
 

I am currently the Health Sciences Librarian and Associate Professor at Pacific University Oregon, a private university founded in 1849, located in Forest Grove and Hillsboro, Oregon. 

Provide a brief description of your library and its services. 
 

The Hillsboro Library is a branch library of Pacific University Libraries serving the College of Health Professions (CHP) on the Hillsboro campus with nearly 2,000 health professions students. Our library supports multiple allied health programs across campuses, including audiology, athletic training, clinical psychology, dental hygiene, occupational therapy, optometry, pharmacy, physical therapy, physician assistants, and speech-language pathology. We offer instructional, research, collection services, and tutoring support.  

Where and when did you start in health sciences librarianship? What brought you to the profession? 
 

I began my career in health sciences librarianship as Head of the Social Work Library serving the School of Social Work — one of the six health sciences schools — at the University of Washington in Seattle. It was an opportunity to work at a university known for its premier health sciences field. I have worked in several medical libraries at academic institutions and was an academic, museum, and public librarian prior to specializing in the medical library field.  

Share two of the most important issues facing the profession today and why they’re important to address. 
 

Budgets and finances are the topmost issues for most libraries. The survival of libraries is dependent on access to information resources and technology services for their users. Budgets are shrinking and the subscription model is increasingly unaffordable. What options do academic libraries have, and how do we continue to sustainably serve our health sciences professional education and training programs?  

Related to that is the future of the library profession. We are in constant competition with Google and artificial intelligence. How do we survive, and can we survive? Would embracing AI tools and integrating them into our library services be the best and more realistic approach? For now, we may be one of the most qualified to assess the reliability of AI-generated information. Could we play a key role in guiding our students, as well as the public, on how to use AI effectively, critically, and responsibly and on ensuring that diverse and representative views that are factually supported reach the user?   

What is one innovation, product, or service in your library that you’re excited about? 
 

Continued promotion of health information literacy and health literacy in both the academic community and the public. At Pacific University, I was in charge of managing the NNLM Pacific Northwest Region grant on health literacy, with the objective of improving health literacy among underserved patient populations in Oregon and improving health literacy education among health professions students, providers, and interprofessional faculty. For decades, librarians have been involved in improving the public’s access to high quality health information, particularly with the rise of consumer health information services, such as sponsored by NLM. With the post-COVID rise of health misinformation, it is imperative that we take on a more active role in educating our citizens.  

Why do you serve on the Library Board of Advisors and select for Doody’s Core Titles? 
 

I have served as a DCT Librarian Selector for several years. I initially participated because I wanted to learn more about the product development and selection process. I was already familiar with Doody’s as a collection development tool, which I often use as a standard measure for the library’s health science collection. I am delighted to be invited to join the Board of Advisers to support its mission as well as to contribute in a meaningful way to the library profession at large. 

Anything else you’d like to share?  
 

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve on Doody’s Board and to promote collection services!