More news today about dwindling city newspapers. Ok. I’m not partial to newspapers. I do prefer the Web for my news. But as a local history librarian I harbor the concern that the loss of local papers does mean a loss to the community’s history. The newspapers have always played an important role in documenting stories about a region. I’m not sure how this source to a region’s history’s will be replaced. Right now the Kansas City Star isn’t out of business, but it has suffered drastic layoffs.  It’s seems to be only a matter of time.  Other local papers have recently retired or retreated to a Web presence only.  Recent examples include the Lenexa Centennial and the Kansas City Kansan.

I’m interested to know what role libraries will play in these upcoming changes.

Challenges include the community’s apathy to the region and it’s history, local and institutional politics, dwindling human resources for research and writing, preservation across different item formats, copyrights, and preserving dynamic community Web resources for future historical research.

Opportunities might include producing more original and researched content, annotated bibliographies covering hot topics like mass transit, community issues driven programming, and actively collecting and preserving, with systematic foresight and creativity, what might become the future’s history.

It is interesting to recall that once in Johnson County, Kansas there were bison, pronghorn, elk, wolves, and grizzly bears.  Bounties were placed on the predators and in a short period of time they became extinct.  Is Johnson County a richer place without them? You would think that we would have learned from such short-sighted policies.  But have we?

Listen to actress Ashley Judd as she speaks for Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund about the wildlife management policies of Alaska governor Sarah Palin.

Sarah Palin’s Ongoing Wolf Slaughter