Dr. Joan Ash joined the Oregon Health and Science University Libraries as Associate Director in 1976. She first became interested in library science as a volunteer at Swansea Public Library in Massachusetts and ultimately left her position at University of Connecticut to move to Oregon, offering a comparison between the different cultures of UC, Yale, and OHSU in this interview. Major objectives and obstacles encountered by Dr. Ash during her time at OHSU are touched upon; more specifically, labor-management relations and unions at OHSU (and university campuses generally) are covered. In addition, the creation of the BICC (Biomedical Information Communication Center, OHSU's informatics program, and the grant-writing process are major topics of the interview, as is her long association with Library Director James Morgan. Other topics addressed include learning about computers while at library school at Columbia University, relations with other local institutions and the National Library of Medicine, sexism in the library profession, and sexual discrimination in the OHSU community.