Managing a National Health Repository

Institutional repositories are becoming part of mainstream scholarship in many academic libraries. Subject based repositories are well suited to disciplines such as the health sciences, where repositories are evolving rapidly. In Ireland, as in other countries, the healthcare sector produces a vast quantity of research and grey literature. This article examines how a national subject repository for Ireland's health services was established and managed by a Regional Library Service. It explores the rationale for the repository, established amid massive organizational change with a declared aim of preserving and promulgating Ireland's health literature in all its forms. Key to the success of the repository was involvement of health professionals from the outset and a continued dialogue with researchers within the healthcare system.