NAHSL: News

Angela Ackerman: Designing for Trust: Human-Centered AI and Its Impact on Health Information Access

Reflections from a 2025 NAHSL MLA Scholarship award winner.

Thanks to the support of the NAHSL Professional Development Award, I had the opportunity to attend the 2025 Medical Library Association (MLA) Annual Conference in Pittsburgh. One session that left a lasting impression was: “Human-Centered AI: UX Design and Ethics in Medical Knowledge Systems.” Rather than focusing solely on the capabilities of AI, this session explored how health information professionals can act as ethical stewards in the design and deployment of AI-powered tools. Panelists—from academic libraries, hospital systems, and UX research labs—shared practical insights into how AI can be harnessed responsibly in service of equitable, transparent access to medical information. Here are four specific innovations I took away:

1. Design for Explainability One panelist discussed integrating a “Why was this suggested?” button into their AI search tool. This gave users transparency into the algorithm’s decision-making, promoting trust and minimizing potential confusion or misinformation.
2. Audit for Accessibility Early A UX librarian shared how their team ran a pre-launch screen reader audit of an AI-driven FAQ tool and discovered serious usability barriers. Their solution? Bring accessibility reviewers in from the start—not just at the end—and incorporate their feedback iteratively.
3. Ethical Metadata Matters The panel emphasized that metadata is not neutral. One team revised their subject headings and tags to prevent corporate-sponsored studies from dominating search results. It was a clear reminder that how we describe data determines how (and if) it’s found.
4. Cross-Train with Adjacent Teams The session concluded with an inspiring example of a “skills exchange” between library staff and IT/UX colleagues. This practice created shared understanding and opened doors for collaborative development of AI tools rooted in human-centered design.

In my current role at Yale New Haven Health’s Hospital Archive Department, I saw immediate connections between this session and my own work. Our department manages clinical, legal, and administrative records that must remain discoverable, accessible, and compliant with HIPAA, institutional policy, and state law. These insights from will directly inform how I: Design DACS-aligned finding aids with ethical metadata practices that mitigate bias and promote equitable access; Collaborate with compliance, legal, and IT teams to apply UX-informed thinking to our archival retrieval systems and privacy safeguards; Support internal transparency and public-facing exhibits, ensuring our AI-adjacent tools are as inclusive and explainable as our physical archives; Develop audit-ready documentation and governance workflows that echo the same principles of transparency, traceability, and human-centered design discussed at MLA.

In summary, this session expanded my understanding of how librarians and archivists can shape the future of medical information access through ethical design, inclusive metadata, and interdepartmental collaboration. I’m grateful to NAHSL for investing in my professional development, and I hope these takeaways spark ideas and conversations within our regional health information community.
 

Angela Ackerman

Medical Archivist & Knowledge Management Intern
Yale New Haven Health Hospital - Archives Dept