PLC Day 4

This is the last formal day of the Colloquy.

Morning

The day opened with Hilary Shibata presenting Heather Lane's session on models for engaging the PLC with the European Union Arctic Information Centre initiative.  Scott Polar Institute has been invited to be the lead for EUAIC library initiatives.  Healther suggested that because EUAIC is meant to be a large network of existing Arctic information nodes, it makes sense to involved PLC as an already existing network node.

Next, Vibeke Sloth Jacobsen (Polar Library, Copenhagen) asked us to consider whether or not there is a future for specialized libraries.  There was a lively discussion, with several participants speaking to the importance of speciallized collections and embedded librarians, who can supply detailed service to specific subjects.

Liisa Hallikainen (Arctic Centre Library) also spoke about the EUAIC and the directions of EU policy related to the Arctic.  A group of 17 European polar libraries are currently part of the network that will form EUAIC. 

Flora Grabowska (Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska, Fairbanks) reviewed developments at her library which have allowed the Library to pay some author fees for scientists publishing in open access journals. 

Elaine Maloney demonstrated the Canadian Circumpolar Institute's open-access collections housed in the University of Alberta's institutional repository, ERA.  Materials, including a growing photograph collection, are available for use by anyone for non-commercial purposes.

Silent Auction
There was fierce competitive bidding for the array of things in the silent auction.  Bidders bought books, jewelry, clothing, foods and remarkable items such as temporary tattoos from Greenland.  All funds support the Wenger Award.

Afternoon

The Business Meeting was chaired by Secretary, Laura Kissel, standing in for Chair, Pierre Beaudreau.  Minutes will be published in the next Bulletin.  Highlights included:  Shelly Sommer stepping into Chair-elect, David Walton resigning as Treasurer and being replaced by Jo Milton.
PLC2014 will be in Cambridge, jointly hosted by British Antarctic Survey and Scott Polar Research Institute.
PLC2018 will be held in Rovaniemi, Finland.

At the end of the Business Meeting, Wenger Award recipient, Lisa Adamo expressed her appreciation for the award and for the welcome by the Colloquy members.

Ron Inouye eloquently reviewed the proceedings of the Colloquy, tying the logo and title of the Colloquy to various papers and images that we've shared over these four days.

The afternoon was topped off by Leilani Henry's engaging presentation, "We Are All Antarctica".  Henry's father, George W. Gibbs Jr., was a member of Admiral Byrd's third expedition to the South Pole and was the first man of colour to set foot on Antarctica.  Using photographs, images of her father's journals and several objects related to the expedition, Henry shared not only the history of her father's journey, but also her own journey of discovery about her father's early life and adventure.

Evening

The banquet was held at the Red Lion Restaurant in Boulder Canyon. The restaurant is set alongside the river, with beautiful gardens.  The meal was sumptuous.  Door prizes and raffle prizes were drawn, with one of the favorites being the "Solar Queen", who will be renamed the "Polar Queen".
The evening concluded with a performance by Pick Up Sticks Marimba band.  Sixteen month-old Paul, son of Marcel and Katrin, was the star of the dance floor, entertaining everyone with his moves. 
At the end of the set, the band held a "petting zoo", teaching a number of volunteers to play a tune together.   And a good time was had by all.

Sandy Campbell