Participants represented Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Norway, Russian, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the United States. The Colloquy, which is a member organization of the University of the Arctic, counts among its membership many librarians who are employed in UArctic academic institutions
The Colloquy heard many fine presentations and papers regarding the delivery of information in polar regions. Papers provided glimpses into excellent collections and services around the polar regions. Some focused on digitization projects, indexing and web-based projects. Participants also heard about the importance of using open-source software, issues in dealing with classified materials, and issues related to the preservation of information produced by the upcoming International Polar Year. This Colloquy also offered attendees several video and movie presentations. Site visits were made to the library of the Italian Geographical Society and the Italian National Library.
The theme of this Colloquy was "Building Polar Networks", and several presentations addressed networking directly, including historical, current, and emerging networks. Among the networks discussed was University of the Arctic. Outi Snellman, Deputy Directory of the University of the Arctic, gave an overview of the organization. This session was followed by an open forum for University of the Arctic librarians.
Discussions revealed that while librarians were aware of their institutions being members of the University of the Arctic, they had not encountered students who identified themselves as UArctic students. No members indicated that they had encountered any challenges as a result of having UArctic students as part of their student communities. The forum concluded with the understanding that within the context of UArctic, the PLC will continue to perform its primary function, that of providing a network for polar libarians.