Exploring the Future of Library-Local News Collaboration
From the Report
Journalism has a community engagement problem. Media literacy has not kept up with the proliferation of information sources and this has led to distrust. Libraries are trusted by their communities, and they’re also where the people are.
About the Project
As local news sources collapse due to corporate consolidation and the ever-changing nature of the media environment, how can access to vital local information survive? Library Futures and News Futures, two organizations dedicated to serving their communities with library and news resources in our increasingly digital future, wanted to figure out how librarians and journalists could work together to ensure the future of digital local news and to make it equitably available to the community it serves.
Library Futures intern Thomas Alexander interviewed eleven librarians and journalists over three months in the spring of 2025 to learn both what they saw as the obstacles to the future of local news and what opportunities partnerships between librarians and journalists could create to preserve and expand the availability of local news in the digital age.
This resource was developed as part of the Library Futures Internship Program.
