Abstract
What is a health library and information professional? What do they do and why do they do it – now and into the future? 
 The initial response to these types of ‘who?’, ‘what?’, ‘when?’, ‘where?’, ‘how?’ and ‘why?’ questions might be that a health librarian is any librarian who works in a health library and finds information for clients in a timely way. But does that define our role sufficiently? Does where we work differentiate us from anyone (or thing) performing a quick internet search on a health-related topic?
 There is no doubt that AI (which in many cases refers simply to machine learning) is challenging many transactional and repetitive processes in all fields of work.
 So in the not-too-distant future, will there be any need for information professionals who design and execute literature searches, or create metadata schema and text mining techniques for retrieving information and data hidden in multi-layered, opaque electronic documents and databases? In an ‘internet of things’ ehealth information environment, will anyone need the human communication skills to connect with health professionals to quiz them about the real intent of their queries?
 We grappled with these types of future-oriented questions in the process of revising HLA’s Competencies.
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