Sharing the pain, striving for gain

Based on a presentation at the UKSG seminar ‘Let’s not waste a crisis’, London, 18 November 2009 Ireland is experiencing a particularly severe and sudden economic downturn. Spending on higher education is under the microscope, with implications for university libraries.The impact of this new environment at National University of Ireland (NUI), Galway, in particular, is discussed and a range of challenges, opportunities and coping strategies explored in the context of staffing, information resources and operations.The national dimension is also covered, notably implications for the Irish Research eLibrary (IReL) service. Overall, a combination of pain and gain is identified, with resource losses balanced against opportunities for new thinking and models.