"With media consolidation altering local news coverage across the U.S., the Urban Libraries Council and democratic alliance More Perfect have announced a public library partnership focused on community-centered journalism. In the pilot program, eight libraries will team with a civic media institution or individual journalist in their area to develop a storytelling initiative centered on their communities’ residents.

"The first cohort includes library systems in Arizona, California, Georgia, Indiana, Maryland, and Minnesota. Each will receive staff training and $7,500–$10,000 in funding to develop and implement their program.

"Shamichael Hallman, ULC senior director of civic health and economic opportunity, told PW the idea came out of conversations with More Perfect about "the civic impact of public libraries" and their potential for advancing media literacy. Hallman learned that "most libraries did have fairly strong media relationships, but primarily around promotional aspects" such as event notifications. "We wanted to press libraries to go further, and we did find a group of libraries seeing themselves as civic information partners.""

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