diff --git a/pkg/intern/BUILD b/pkg/intern/BUILD
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..010a60964
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/intern/BUILD
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+package(default_visibility = ["//visibility:public"])
+
+load("@io_bazel_rules_go//go:def.bzl", "go_binary", "go_library", "go_test")
+
+go_library(
+    name = "go_default_library",
+    srcs = [
+        "intern.go",
+    ],
+)
+
+go_test(
+    name = "intern_test",
+    srcs = [ "intern_test.go" ],
+    size = "small",
+    library = ":go_default_library",
+)
diff --git a/pkg/intern/intern.go b/pkg/intern/intern.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..253be9c36
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/intern/intern.go
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+// Copyright 2016 Google Inc.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package intern
+
+import (
+	"sync"
+)
+
+// Pool is a general purpose string interning package to reduce memory
+// consumption and improve processor cache efficiency.
+type Pool struct {
+	sync.RWMutex
+	strings     map[string]string
+	currentSize int
+	maxSize     int
+}
+
+const (
+	// just a guess of course...
+	averageStringLength = 10
+)
+
+// NewPool allocates a new interning pool ready for use.
+//
+// Go doesn't currently have sophisticated GC primitives, such as weak pointers.
+// As a result, a simple string interning solution can easily become subject to
+// memory bloating. Strings are only ever added and never removed, leading to
+// an eventual OOM condition. Can easily be leveraged to DDoS a server for example.
+//
+// The code here uses a simple approach to work around this problem. If the table
+// holding the interned strings ever holds more than than maxSize's worth of strings,
+// the table is completely dropped on the floor and a new table is allocated. This
+// allows any stale strings pointed to by the old table to be reclaimed by the GC.
+// This effectively puts a cap on the memory held by any single pool. The cost of
+// this approach of course is that interning will be less efficient.
+func NewPool(maxSize int) *Pool {
+	return &Pool{strings: make(map[string]string, maxSize/averageStringLength), maxSize: maxSize}
+}
+
+// Intern returns a sharable version of the string, allowing the
+// parameter's storage to be garbage collected.
+func (p *Pool) Intern(s string) string {
+	// quick try if its already in the table
+	p.RLock()
+	result, found := p.strings[s]
+	p.RUnlock()
+
+	if !found {
+		// look again under a serializing r/w lock
+		p.Lock()
+		if result, found = p.strings[s]; !found {
+			if len(s) > p.maxSize-p.currentSize {
+				p.strings = make(map[string]string, p.maxSize/averageStringLength)
+				p.currentSize = 0
+			}
+
+			p.strings[s] = s
+			p.currentSize += len(s)
+			result = s
+		}
+		p.Unlock()
+	}
+
+	return result
+}
diff --git a/pkg/intern/intern_test.go b/pkg/intern/intern_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9e97e39ec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/intern/intern_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+// Copyright 2016 Google Inc.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package intern
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestIntern(t *testing.T) {
+	p := NewPool(4)
+
+	strings := []string{
+		"a",
+		"b",
+		"c",
+		"d",
+		"e",
+		"f",
+		"g",
+		"h",
+	}
+
+	// We're only testing the semantics here, we're not actually
+	// verifying that interning has taken place. That's too hard to
+	// do in Go...
+
+	for _, s := range strings {
+		r := p.Intern(s)
+		if r != s {
+			t.Errorf("Got mismatch %v != %v", r, s)
+		}
+	}
+}