An anonymous reader made a comment to my post, Recruitment, Careers, Leadership. Anonymous asked, "You mentioned AHIP. Do you think getting this credential has paid off? I'm debating about whether I should bother with it or not. At my institution, no one really knows what it is. But, it might be respected for tenure purposes (I'm guessing)."

I have been mulling that question about in my head for a while now. Thinking of how I should respond and what I really think.

Hospitals and Academia are two work environments that seem to be particularity focused on credentials. So much so that I often joke with my husband that hospital badges have to get bigger to accommodate the ever growing string of initials following people's names. That being said, I think MLA and medical librarians (as a whole, not individually) have done a less than stellar job of educating and informing our work society (doctors, nurses, administrators, etc.) of our credentials. As a result mostly only medical librarians know what your AHIP means. Heck most don't even know you have an MLS, but that is for another post.

So if you go for getting your AHIP because you expect to get a better salary, promotion, job, recognition, job security, etc. you are out of luck. Unfortunately it ain't gonna help with that, and in that way, having your AHIP credentials does not pay off.

HOWEVER, the things you do towards getting your AHIP (continuing education, publishing, serving the profession, teaching, attending conferences, etc.) does pay off. Those are the things that will eventually help you to get a better job (if you seek it) with better pay (possibly) and can give you more recognition within the medical library community (which could open other doors professionally). The AHIP quickly signifies that the person who bears those letters has done some professional activities above and beyond somebody else without their AHIP. After all we tend to go to board certified physicians because we know the specialized training and knowledge they accumulated towards getting the board certification is what is important not the actual paper saying they are board certified.

However, there are plenty of medical librarians out there who do not have their AHIP but have done way more professionally in one year than I could ever hope to do in my life. And there lies the problem with AHIP. Because it has such little recognition many medical librarians feel that their activities (continuing education, publishing, teaching, etc.) already speak for themselves so they do not feel the need to pay the Medical Library Association for a bunch of letters that nobody knows about anyway. So it trust it like a board certification in medicine won't work.

So, if it is the things we do to get our AHIP like taking continuing education classes and participating in the library community that helps us, then why even bother plunking down the money to pay for those little letters when they are so unknown outside of medical libraries? Good question and one that you are just going to have to answer for yourself. For me, I decided to get my AHIP because at the time I thought it was the next logical step for me, sort of summing up my last five years of medical librarian knowledge. Who knows five years from now whether I will think it is still worth it.

Do I wish that it was more recognized by the outside world? Heck, I just wish it was more recognized within the medical world and within the other library disciplines. It is frustrating to have my MLS and AHIP yet still have certain doctors treat me like I am their secretary (and get paid less than some of their secretaries)? To have the outside world recognize it would be a miracle. Because it is definitely frustrating and humiliating to have your husband's co-worker ask you what you do and then comment, "You're kidding? I am surprised they haven't replaced you with Google." (side note: That actually happened and it was at a company function so I could not go all postal librarian on him. I had to be polite, not eviscerate him and stomp on his entrails as was my first thought.)

So go for it, do the things that are important towards getting your AHIP, then decide if it is worth it to you to pay for the letters. Because the work behind it is what is going to make the difference in the end.

For more information as to what librarians think about AHIP, try reading the article:
Health sciences librarians' attitudes toward the Academy of Health Information Professionals
by Lynda M. Baker, Marge Kars, Janet Petty
J Med Libr Assoc. 2004 July; 92(3): 323–330.