diff --git a/src/ns.sh b/src/ns.sh
index 947ec91..0cca87d 100644
--- a/src/ns.sh
+++ b/src/ns.sh
@@ -23,6 +23,38 @@
 __PKGSH_INC_NS=1
 
 
+##
+# Import a package as a fully-qualified namespace
+#
+# N.B.: This should be used instead of `source` to import a package to
+# ensure that any additional needed processing is performed; otherwise,
+# while it will still run, it may not work as expected with pkgsh.
+#
+# The package will be sourced and all functions may be accessed by using the
+# fully-qualified name.
+#
+# For example, given `import-fqns foo::bar`, you would access function `baz`
+# in that namespace as the full `foo::bar::baz`.
+#
+# Packages imported using this method will be available to all sourced
+# files in the current shell (and for subshells if there are any exports);
+# this is intended to be used internally for package loading prior to
+# additional processing; it is analgous to `source`.
+#
+import-fqns()
+{
+  local -r ns="$1"
+  local -r pkgpath="${ns//:://}.sh"
+
+  test -f "$pkgpath" -a -r "$pkgpath" || {
+    echo "error: \`$ns' is not a package" >&2
+    return 1
+  }
+
+  source "$pkgpath"
+}
+
+
 ##
 # Apply to current namespace
 #
diff --git a/test/fixture/pkg-stub.sh b/test/fixture/pkg-stub.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ca9efc5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixture/pkg-stub.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# Stub package for testing
+#
+#  Copyright (C) 2014 Mike Gerwitz
+#
+#  This file is part of pkgsh.
+#
+#  pkgsh is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+#  it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+#  the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+#  (at your option) any later version.
+#
+#  This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+#  but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+#  MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+#  GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+#  You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+#  along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+##
+
+
+test::fixture::pkg-stub::try()
+{
+  echo "pkg-stub $@"
+}
diff --git a/test/ns/test-import-fqns.sh b/test/ns/test-import-fqns.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5e9be70
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/ns/test-import-fqns.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# Tests importing a fully qualified namespace
+#
+#  Copyright (C) 2014 Mike Gerwitz
+#
+#  This file is part of pkgsh.
+#
+#  pkgsh is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+#  it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+#  the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+#  (at your option) any later version.
+#
+#  This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+#  but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+#  MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+#  GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+#  You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+#  along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+#
+# This is equalent to `source`ing a package, except that it may perform
+# additional processing that is required to properly load the package.
+##
+
+source src/ns.sh
+
+
+test-ok()
+{
+  # this should auto-load test/fixture/pkg-stub.sh
+  import-fqns test::fixture::pkg-stub
+
+  # we should now have access to the functions as if we sourced it
+  result="$( test::fixture::pkg-stub::try foo )"
+  assert "$result" == "pkg-stub foo"
+}
+
+
+test-bad()
+{
+  local -i ok=0
+  local -r badns=test::does::not::exist
+
+  # this package does not exist; should error
+  result="$( import-fqns "$badns" 2>&1 )" || {
+    # good; this is what we want, but we need to handle this failure, since
+    # -e is set
+    ok=1
+  }
+
+  assert "$ok" -eq 1
+
+  # ensure that an error is output
+  [[ "$result" =~ error ]] || assert -z "missing 'error'"
+  [[ "$result" =~ "$badns" ]] || assert -z "missing ns name in error"
+}
+
+
+test-ok
+test-bad
+