In 1991, the Irish Healthcare Libraries Inter-Lending Co-Operative was established as a non-profit document supply service. There were 11 founding members, encompassing one-person libraries, large hospital and university libraries. The scheme was initially administered through the Library Association of Ireland (LAI) Health Science Libraries Group (HSLG) before being taken on by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO). The 11 original members had access to 1009 journal titles, by 2008 this grew to 70 members with access to over 7400 titles. In 2010 the Co-Operative moved to an online model.
From the outset, HJNI was designed as a reciprocal scheme. Each library agrees to Supply and Receive articles. Copyright under the Irish Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000 is the responsibility of each participating library.
Intending members should be able to supply at least 10 titles with holdings covering at least 3 years. Members are encouraged to offer as many titles as possible to increase the value and efficiency of the service. Members are also particularly encouraged to offer titles not otherwise available and where possible to include the current year of holdings. It is acceptable to include all your library journal holdings. We welcome the addition of journals covering all aspects of medicine, nursing and healthcare.
All member libraries undertake to share their resources freely and to respond quickly to requests.
No payment is made between members for document supply.
HJNI Governance
Governance and management of the HJNI resides with Health Library Ireland (HLI). A user group comprising current HJNI members meets annually to review the working and usage of HJNI.