The library has leased the Plymouth Park facility – an office park owned by First Martin Corp. on Green Road, north of Plymouth – since January 2010. That’s when AADL took possession of the Ann Arbor News archives, a few months after the owners of that publication decided to cease operations. The original lease was for a two-year period at $38,000 annually. In November 2011, the board approved a one-year extension, also at the $38,000 annual rate. No extension was brought to the board for approval in 2012.

The library is digitizing the Ann Arbor News archives, along with material from other local newspapers, as part of a project called Old News. For additional background, see Chronicle coverage: “Ann Arbor Library Set to Publish ‘Old News.’”

This brief was filed from the fourth-floor boardroom of the downtown Ann Arbor District Library at 343 S. Fifth. A more detailed report will follow.

The Ann Arbor District Library's Traverwood branch will be closed starting Thursday, Aug. 20 and reopening on Friday, Aug. 28. (Photo by the writer.)

Ann Arbor District Library board meeting (Aug. 17, 2009): The Traverwood library branch will close Wednesday evening at 9 p.m. and remain closed until 9 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 28, the result of difficulties with a floor resealing project. It’s connected to a two-day closure earlier this month, when sealant incorrectly applied to the branch’s hardwood floors failed to dry.

Josie Parker, the library system’s director, announced the unanticipated closing at Monday night’s board meeting, but it was a different closing that stands to have a longer-term impact on the library: The recent closing of The Ann Arbor News. Parker and the board discussed plans by the owners of The News – Advance Publications – to give the library most of its archives. Though no formal agreement has been reached, the board authorized up to $63,000 to lease storage space for bound newspaper copies, newspaper clipping files and most photo negatives. Parker called the digitizing, organizing and use of the archives an exciting, major undertaking, with “huge implications” for the library.

At Monday’s meeting, Parker also told the board about a live webcast she’ll be making next week as part of an international library conference – a reflection of AADL’s growing reputation as a model for library programming and technology.

But of most immediate concern to library patrons will be the Traverwood closing, and that’s where we’ll start our report.

Traverwood

Traverwood, the newest of the system’s five locations, opened just over a year ago and is well-used. The branch reported a door count of 32,213 people in July 2009 – second only to 59,749 at the main downtown library.

A distinct design – featured in the video “Up From Ashes” – includes wood from dead ash trees harvested at the branch’s site on the north side of Ann Arbor. The wood was used for the floors – the only wooden flooring in any of the system’s buildings. As part of regular maintenance, the floors need to be resealed every year. This was the first attempt, Parker said, and they thought they could do it themselves. They’ll be contracting out the work in the future, she said.

Because the initial attempt was done incorrectly, workers will have to sand down the floors, reapply the sealant and let it dry. Prep work includes wrapping the shelves of books and other items in plastic, to keep them clean amid the dust from sanding. The entire project, including the initial resealing, will cost about $8,000.

While the branch is closed, staff from Traverwood will work at other locations. Items put on hold can be picked up at the downtown library, Parker said. The Traverwood dropbox attached to the building will stay in use, but the portable dropbox in the garage will be removed until the library reopens.

The public will be notified with a post on the AADL website, Parker said, as well as an email sent out to all cardholders.

Ann Arbor News Archives

Advance Publications, which owns the Ann Arbor News and decided to shut down the 174-year-old newspaper earlier this year, has agreed to give AADL its archives. At this point, the agreement has not been formalized, though Parker told the board that it is “all but” final. The board will have to approve whatever legal agreement is reached – meanwhile, Parker is looking for space to store the collection. On Monday, she asked for authorization of up to $63,000 to lease a maximum of 3,500 square feet (at $18 per square foot). She hasn’t yet identified a space, but said she expects to pay less than the amount requested, given the general availability of vacant office space.

The archives include all bound volumes of the Ann Arbor News and the Ypsilanti Press, which the newspaper acquired in 1994. The library will also get the paper’s photo archives of up to 1 million items – excluding negatives and images of University of Michigan football and basketball. The newspaper’s extensive clipping files will be going to the library as well. “It’s not a small piece of history,” Parker said, noting that the library has been asking for access to the clipping files in particular for two decades.

The space they’ll need must be climate controlled, Parker said – though the archives haven’t been in climate-controlled conditions at The News building, “from the moment we get it, we want to do right by it,” she said. They need access to a loading dock, since the bound copies will arrive on pallets. They’d also like the location to be on a bus line and fairly close to downtown, so that library staff can easily reach it.

The library has permission to digitize the photo negatives as well as the clips – but not the bound copies. A new business – AnnArbor.com, launched earlier this year by the newspaper’s owners – plans to digitize that portion of the archives themselves. Board member Margaret Leary asked Parker whether there was a time frame attached to the digitization of that part of the archives. Leary pointed out that the library would be paying to store the bound copies, which will be getting more fragile each year and more difficult to preserve. She wondered whether they could revisit the issue, if the owners hadn’t moved to digitize those papers within, say, three years. Parker said she would discuss it with them.

Leary also noted that the $63,000 was an amount to cover a lease for just one year. What happens after that? she asked. Parker said she didn’t know yet. She stressed that it was a gift, and that Advance also would be paying to move the archives. However, she said, it’s like getting a free kitten – there will be costs involved.

Board member Carola Stearns asked if there were sufficient staff resources to handle the project. Parker said that staff have lined up to be involved, but that until they actually get the archives, they won’t know how much work it will entail. Eventually, there will be programming associated with the archives as well, she said – but again, it’s too soon to know what that might involve. “It’s a fun mystery – a very fun mystery,” Parker said.

Ed Surovell raised a broader issue: What’s the future of other newspapers in the state, and their archives? He guessed that other newspapers owned by the same company might see a similar fate as the Ann Arbor News. “I don’t mean to foretell their doom, but I doubt this is the only one they will deaccession.”

It might be an opportunity to create a statewide repository, Surovell said, “and what better place for it to be than here, in the real capital of Michigan?” That’s especially true given what’s happening with the Library of Michigan, he said. [Gov. Jennifer Granholm recently issued an executive order abolishing the Michigan Department of History, Arts and Libraries, of which the Library of Michigan is a part.] Surovell suggested that the board consider whether AADL should take leadership in this.

Rebecca Head said there could be grant opportunities as well, since AADL could serve as a model for this type of archiving project. Parker said that they’d already been considering these broader issues. “It has huge implications for the library here, for the community and for the state,” she said. However, they can’t move ahead until a formal agreement is reached and the library actually has access to the archives.

When in Rome …

At 6 a.m. on Monday, Parker will be making a presentation and answering questions in a live webcast about innovative public library programs. The early hour reflects the international audience she’ll be addressing – the U.S. embassy in Rome is hosting her talk, and 6 a.m. here will be noon in that time zone. The presentation is part of the International Federation of Library Associations’ World Library and Information Congress, held this year in Milan, Italy. Questions will be asked in multiple languages, and translated into English.

Parker told the board that AADL has a reputation for innovative programs and projects. One recent example is the digitization of the Ann Arbor News archives, she said. She’ll also discuss the summer reading program, which she characterized as a uniquely American service. Parker had earlier given the board an update on this year’s AADL summer reading program, which she said has seen the highest participation since she arrived as director in 2001. That might be because more families are staying home this summer, due to the economy, she said.

Elevator Repair

The economy came up again, indirectly, in a board action taken Monday night. One of the motivations for wanting to build a new downtown library – a project that was put on hold last year because of unfavorable economic conditions – was the fact that current systems in the existing building are starting to fail. The freight elevator, for example, broke down in May. Ken Nieman, the library’s associate director, said that when it became clear that the problem was more complex than they initially thought, they enlisted the advice of O’Neal Construction. Owner Joe O’Neal and staff member Tim Stout attended Monday night’s board meeting.

There are two options, Nieman said: 1) replace the broken cylinder that operates the elevator, or 2) install a new elevator. AADL solicited bids for both options, and asked O’Neal to review the bids and interview the contractors. Three companies – Detroit Elevator, Otis Elevator and Schindler USA – bid to replace the cylinder. Only Detroit Elevator and Schindler bid to replace the entire elevator.

Because the replacement cylinder would be larger, the project entails taking out the faulty one and drilling a slightly larger hole, which goes down the equivalent of four stories underground, Nieman said. They’d keep the existing elevator doors and car.

Installing a new elevator would be more expensive. A new elevator would use a cable system rather than the cyclinder used in hydraulic models, and they’d have to fill the existing underground hole with concrete. The project would require a general contractor, adding to the cost.

Based on O’Neal’s advice, Nieman said the library recommended replacing the cylinder and awarding the contract to Detroit Elevator, which made the lowest bid at $112,814. When queried by board member Carola Stearns about why Detroit Elevator was significantly lower than the other two bids, O’Neal said that Detroit Elevator does their own drilling – the other two firms would have to subcontract out that work.

Though the actual work will only take two to three weeks, the replacement cylinder must be ordered and likely won’t arrive until November, Nieman said. Parker also warned that the work would be very loud, occurring mostly in the dock area, basement and the library’s first floor.

The board unanimously approved awarding the contract to Detroit Elevator for the repair work. O’Neal Construction will coordinate the work – their fee is part of the $112,814 approved for the contract.

Financial Report

As the first month in their fiscal year, July is typically a time when they have the lowest amount of cash on hand, according to associate director Ken Nieman, who gave the board an update on finances. At the end of July, AADL had $5.8 million in unrestricted cash, he reported, and a fund balance of just under $6.8 million.

Board Retreat

The library board is planning a retreat on Wednesday, Sept. 30 from 3:30-8:30 p.m. The meeting, which is open to the public, will be held at the Ann Arbor offices of the law firm Dykema Gossett, 2723 S. State St.

Board president Rebecca Head said that they’ll focus on strategic planning – the current plan runs through 2010. One major component of the plan that remains undone is to determine the future of the downtown library, she said. Last November, the board called off plans to build a new downtown structure, citing the poor economy.

The board needs to take the temperature of the community about what the library’s role should be, Head said – the downtown building is just one part of that. More broadly, “What does the community really want from the library system?” she asked.

Margaret Leary, the board’s secretary, asked that the retreat agenda include a discussion of finances and what their approach should be. In May, the board voted to lower the operating millage that it levies for the 2009-10 fiscal year – again, citing the economy.

Present: Rebecca Head, Margaret Leary, Barbara Murphy, Jan Barney Newman, Josie Parker, Carola Stearns, Ed Surovell.

Absent: Prue Rosenthal.

Next meeting: Monday, Sept. 21, 2009 at 7 p.m. in the library’s fourth floor meeting room, 343 S. Fifth Ave. [confirm date]

Last Thursday, 23 July, 2009, The Ann Arbor News published its final edition after nearly 175 years in business. I spent part of that morning talking on the teeter totter with Brian Tolle about what people “hire” newspapers to do – besides provide them with news and information.

The notion of “hiring” newspapers – by subscribing to them – to do a “job” is a way of thinking about products that comes naturally to Tolle. He works in the field of organization development, providing consulting services to technology companies on the people side of the equation.

Tolle has a tolerance, even enthusiasm, for change and innovation. So when pitched the idea of reading a newspaper on a high-tech paper scroll, he did not fall off the teeter totter laughing.

When it comes to newspapers, here’s the kind of question Tolle is not likely to ask: Do you want national coverage? Do you prefer lots of pictures and charts? How about captions on the pictures? Should sports be a part of the newspaper coverage? Which of these two fonts do you prefer? How about horoscopes? Would you like editorials?

Instead, Tolle is more likely to begin with: Will you miss getting the newspaper? And if the answer is yes, he’ll then follow up with, Why?

On the totter, Tolle gives two examples of people who will miss their paper. They’ve hired the newspaper to do a job other than provide news and information.

As usual, the conversation on the totter includes a range of topics, and there is one revelation that will come as great news to potential future riders who wonder if there are “facilities” available. For details, read Brian’s Talk.

Matt Kraner, Tony Dearing and Laurel Champion talk about their plans for AnnArbor.com at a community forum on Thursday.

For nearly two hours on Thursday afternoon, three people leading the new online venture formed to replace the Ann Arbor News fielded questions at a public forum, trying to assuage concerns over news that shocked this community when announced last week.

“Community” and “local” were two words frequently repeated by Matt Kraner, Laurel Champion and Tony Dearing of AnnArbor.com, which is gearing up for a late July launch. “Local journalism is not dead in Ann Arbor,” said Champion, current publisher of The News who’ll be executive vice president for the new company. “We’re just serving it up in a very, very different way.”

About 75 people attended Thursday’s forum at Weber’s Inn, the second of four now scheduled. Several current and former Ann Arbor News employees were in the audience, as were a few community leaders like Patricia Garcia, publisher of the Ann Arbor Observer, Ann Arbor school board member Susan Baskett, and Maura Thomson, head of the Main Street Area Association. (News reporter John Mulcahy filed an article about the event for the Ann Arbor News.)

The forum began with brief remarks by Kraner, Champion and Dearing, followed by questions from the audience. Kraner, CEO of the new business and former chief marketing officer for the Cleveland Plain Dealer (owned by Advance Publications, the same company that owns the Ann Arbor News and that’s funding AnnArbor.com), said he was “very impressed with Ann Arbor so far,” and emphasized that for the new venture, the “quality of local journalism is really our paramount focus.” He also said they planned to build new revenue opportunities for advertisers, and would be able to push advertisers’ messages out “like you’ve never seen before.”

Champion said it’s been a sad week at the Ann Arbor News, but that because they’d had to cut costs and taken value out of the newspaper in recent years, it wasn’t serving anyone very well anymore. The new venture, she said, puts them in a position to do things well. Noting that she loved this community, she said AnnArbor.com would be “of, by and for the community – and we really need your help.”

Dearing, chief content director for AnnArbor.com, underscored the importance of sustaining community journalism, and said that fundamental reporting would be combined with new tools like Facebook, Twitter and blogging. He said bloggers complement traditional newspapers, and that AnnArbor.com wants to engage them, link to them and maybe even employ some of them. But to be successful, he said, “we have to do news and we have to do news well.”

Here’s a sampling from the forum’s Q&A. For this report, we’ve paraphrased audience questions and responses, and grouped them by topic, not sequentially.

Content & Staffing

Q: Will there be an editorial point of view? Dearing said he had mixed feelings about that. He described Ann Arbor as an opinionated community, but said they hadn’t decided how important it is to tell readers what they think via editorials. However, he said if they hear from the community that they should be taking the lead on an issue, that will be a factor.

Q: Will there be national and international news? National and international news is heavily commoditized, Dearing said. The mission of this new venture is “local, local, local.” He also said he was looking at ways to incorporate state news, especially as it relates to this area.

Q: There’s an awful lot of weird bloggers out there – I worry about that. Be careful about giving all bloggers a bad name, Dearing said. Some provide credible, valuable information, and if AnnArbor.com thinks readers would benefit from that, they’ll link to those bloggers. He said if you really wanted an understanding about AnnArbor.com, you wouldn’t be reading only the newspaper – you’d be reading blogs and other sources as well.

Q: You’ve mentioned the site will have elements of social networking – what do you mean by that? The site will take advantage of Facebook and Twitter, Dearing said. For example, if you register on AnnArbor.com, you’ll be able to pull in your entire Facebook profile, if you want. And if you post on the site, you’ll be able in one click to post the same thing on Twitter and Facebook. (The connection with Facebook came up again when an audience member said she’d tried to register online for this forum, and was directed to the Facebook log-in page. “I had no idea what that was about,” she said. Dearing said they’d fix that.)

People who want to can also create their own content on AnnArbor.com, Dearing said. For example, if you want to create a page for your 8-year-old’s wrestling team, you can do that – you can post photos, schedules, results of meets – and “we’re not going to touch it,” he said. Kraner said they knew it was important to differentiate between content that their own staff posted versus the content posted by readers and bloggers.

Q: What’s the geographical reach of Ann Arbor.com? All of Washtenaw County – but starting in Ann Arbor. Since they’re building from the ground up, Dearing said, “I don’t want to over-promise.”

Q: Will there be a health reporter? How about strong investigative reporters? Dearing said they’d cover personal health issues as well as the local health industry. They’d heard from people that business reporting was important, so they’ll staff that “more adequately.” He said he wants some top-notch reporters who’ll get the story – if they aren’t trained in technical skills, “them we’ll teach,” he said.

Q: I haven’t heard anything about arts & culture – will you be covering that? Absolutely, Dearing said. Ann Arbor is one of the most culturally rich communities in America, he said, and that will be a part of AnnArbor.com. He said they’ll have an “exceptional” arts calendar, and that the Arts Alliance has already reached out to them.

Q: I found out about today’s forum by reading about it in the newspaper. How will you communicate events like this? Dearing said that most people get their information online, and that overall combined readership in print and online is going up. Kraner said that AnnArbor.com has to be the source for community information, including events. Being a rich, thorough resource is a high priority, he said.

Q: How many Ann Arbor News employees are losing their jobs? The Ann Arbor News is closing, Champion said, and most employees will be laid off. Kraner added that News employees are being encouraged to apply for jobs at AnnArbor.com, but “it’s a different company. It’s a clean break.” They’ll be outsourcing printing, copy-editing and page layout functions, he said, and will be solely focused on creating content, and on sales and marketing.

Q: How many reporters will be on staff compared to now? Dearing said they would employ fewer people than are now on staff, but that they’re still trying to figure out how many. They want to be transparent, he said, and will have that answer in two or three weeks. (Editor’s note: AnnArbor.com is interviewing now for four positions that will manage coverage in four areas: News, sports, arts & entertainment, and community.)

Dearing said that some people expressed concern because they’d seen the newsroom at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer – which recently ended its print edition and is now online only – drop from 140 people to 20. “We’ll certainly have more people than that,” Dearing said. (Not including the sports staff, there are about a dozen full-time reporters at The News. In addition, there are about 40 other newsroom jobs, including photographers, editors, support staff, and part-time reporters.)

Q: What about Geoff Larcom and Jo Mathis – I enjoy reading them. Will they be hired? Referring to Larcom, Dearing said it’s a pretty strong indication of your grounding in this community when city hall is named after your father. Dearing said he hired Mathis into the Ann Arbor News, and described Larcom and Mathis as “special people to me.” He said they’d had conversations, but didn’t explicitly say what their roles, if any, might be at AnnArbor.com.

Q: A lot of us in local businesses and nonprofits have relationships with reporters at the Ann Arbor News. How much will you be meshing the old with the new? Dearing said he understands that they can’t bring in a bunch of 25-year-olds who don’t know the community. He said they’ll need both experienced reporters as well as people who can help reach a new audience.

Q: Will carriers now working for the Ann Arbor News have to reapply for their jobs to deliver the Thursday and Sunday papers? Carrier jobs to distribute AnnArbor.com’s print editions will be outsourced. Kraner said it’s important to have a strong carrier force, to ensure the papers are delivered “on time and dry.” He said one of the regional newspapers (presumably one owned by Advance Publications) would handle staffing for carriers.

Appearance

Q: What will the website look like? Dearing said the site would be uncluttered, intuitive and easy to use. There will also be tools allowing more sophisticated users to customize the site. The site will be constantly updated, he said – the home page might look dramatically different within an hour or even a half hour.

The site will be organized around topics, locations and people, Dearing said. There will be different levels of sophistication within those areas. A basic page might just contain a story with links and a photo. Another tier might focus on video, with links to bloggers. A third level could be customizable, with videos, text, photos, statistics and more.

Kraner said the challenge is to increase not just the size of their online audience, but also the frequency of use. That means breaking news will be a significant part of their overall mission. He described the site as elegant, and said it would include tools to “connect and communicate.” However, he said they weren’t going to finish building the site until they’d gotten feedback from the community. He said that although AnnArbor.com will launch in late July, they will likely come back with a second version in October and additional changes after the first of the year.

Q: MLive is pretty cumbersome and hard to navigate. How will AnnArbor.com compare? Dearing said they’ll have a “superior” site search and that the site would be easy to navigate. It’s one of their highest priorities, he said, and they’ve hired a firm with a national reputation to help do that.

Q: Are there any plans to make the site more accessible to the visually impaired and for people with other disabilities? Dearing said they hadn’t discussed that, but he wanted to know more and asked the person who’d posed the question to stay after the forum and talk to him. Earlier in the meeting, Champion said that at a Thursday morning meeting with residents at Glacier Hills retirement community, people were concerned about their ability to use computers. The new entity will be prepared to help make that transition, she said. “We’re not going to leave you behind.”

Q: I sit at a computer all day and am not inclined to do that when I get home. Have you thought about using a wireless e-reader? Dearing said they’re looking at delivering content in a number of ways, including Kindle and Plastic Logic. That’s a fairly easy thing to accommodate, he said, and if it wasn’t available immediately, it would be soon.

Q: What will the print editions look like? The printed papers will be broadsheets, like the current newspaper, Kraner said. There will also be a “total market coverage” (TMC) product which will be distributed once a week to non-subscribers. (Currently, the Ann Arbor News has a TMC product called “Food, Fun and Fitness,” which includes reprinted articles from the daily newspaper as well as advertisements.)

Dearing said the Sunday paper would look like a traditional Sunday paper. Thursday’s edition would likely be heavy on entertainment and prep sports. It’s hard to say how much emphasis there’ll be on breaking news for the print editions, he said. There might be more news features and analysis.

Kraner said the print edition will be available in newsstands and stores, as well as by subscription.

Business model

Q: Financially, how will you make AnnArbor.com work? The site won’t charge to access content. It’s primarily an advertising-supported business model. They’ll charge subscriptions for the Thursday and Sunday printed newspapers – when asked specifically what subscriptions would cost, Kraner said they didn’t yet know. Kraner said he expects Sundays will still be a dominant vehicle for advertisers, as it is now. He said they’ll be very aggressive on pricing for ads – ”expect to pay less.”

Later, responding to a different question, Champion said that the Ann Arbor News’ printing plant in Pittsfield Township is being spun off as a separate company, which will essentially be a commercial printer. The plant currently prints the New York Times for this region, the Jackson Citizen-Patriot newspaper (one of the eight newspapers in Michigan owned Advance Publications), and other publications.

Q: What’s your advertising model like? Kraner said they’ll be launching three or four new elements for advertisers on the site, possibly incorporating data provided by advertisers. They’ll also be creating direct marketing opportunities for advertisers, he said. Small- and medium-size businesses are looking for ways to advertise more cost effectively, and AnnArbor.com staff will be talking with advertisers to see what works for them. Traditional revenue streams, like classified ads, have eroded, he said, but now there are opportunities to build out a completely new model that pushes out content.

Q: I think you’re throwing in the towel too soon on the newspaper. Have you considered things like trimming payroll, raising subscription rates, charging readers to publish personal photos or paying your executives $1-a-year salaries? Kraner said this isn’t just an Ann Arbor issue. Newspapers are financially challenged nationwide, even in robust markets. In the current model, he said, costs are high to create and deliver newspapers. The owners aren’t doing this to make more money, Kraner said. Industry-wide, news media are trying to find a viable business model.

Misc. questions & comments

Q: Do you think The News alienated a lot of the community because of its conservative endorsements? Champion, who as publisher has served on the Ann Arbor News editorial board for several years, said that yes, their editorials have probably alienated some readers. But that’s true for any opinion they have, she said. “Did we make some mistakes? Absolutely, we did,” she said. But they’ve been trying to focus more on the community over the past couple of years, and that’s also why they’re now working to change their business model.

Dearing followed up by saying that people he talks to generally have two questions: Does the new venture understand the technology – we do, he said – and do they understand Ann Arbor. “That’s what we’re going to be judged by,” Dearing said. Kraner added that they want to understand what the community wants – that’s why they’re seeking feedback.

Q: I got an email from you saying this forum would be at Campus Inn at 2 o’clock, but it started an hour earlier at Weber’s. I’m a little concerned that your system is already broken. Kraner apologized for the confusion of location and meeting time, and said they do take that seriously and believe it’s important to reach out to the community. They have scheduled another forum for Thursday, April 16 at 7 p.m. in the Pendleton Room of the Michigan Union at 530 S. State St.

Q: How long have you been working on this project? Kraner said that he and Dearing officially joined the project at the first of this year, and that Champion came on board about a month ago. He did not discuss what work was done unofficially prior to that.

It’s been a wild, gratifying, exhausting month. A shout-out to those of you who’ve generously helped us spread the word about our publication, who’ve offered words of support and encouragement … or who’ve made a financial sign of support by buying ads. There’s no guarantee that we can make this a financially viable business, but if we can, it will be thanks to individuals at local companies and organizations who think we’ve got something worth paying for, and who are willing to take a chance on a new venture like this.

For me, the experience of leaving an institution like The Ann Arbor News to become an entrepreneur has been a bit surreal. Some things didn’t surprise me, like the terror of no longer having paid-for health insurance. Some things did, like the pile-on of ill will I’ve heard about my former employer since leaving. I’d certainly heard plenty of criticism directed toward The News when I was working there on the business desk and more recently as opinion editor. But now that I’m no longer affiliated with the paper, the floodgates have opened, and it saddens me.

In part, it saddens me because executives at the newspaper gave me many opportunities there over the years, and because I know and respect the many committed, talented, hard-working colleagues I left behind in the newsroom. (It’s dangerous to attempt sincerity during a political season. I was sharing these sentiments with someone recently, who responded: “Nice stump speech.”)

It also saddens me because this area deserves a strong institutional media outlet, with resources that a company like The News can provide. A lot of people this past month, upon hearing about The Chronicle, have said something along the lines of, “At last – an alternative to The Ann Arbor News!” We are a daily source of local news, yes, but we’re not an alternative to anything, really. Our assumption is that we’re adding to the local news buffet, not just providing the sole dish. That wouldn’t be our goal, even if we grew to meet our wildest ambitions.

Why are people so unhappy with The News? Some don’t like its smaller size. Some want more local coverage, while others want more state, national and international news – many want more of both. Some feel it’s too liberal, or too conservative. (Many Ann Arborites haven’t forgiven the paper for endorsing George Bush in both 2000 and 2004, even though the publisher and opinion editor who were part of those endorsement decisions are no longer with the paper.)

It’s not going to get any easier in the short term, either for The News or for its readers. The paper confronts pressures faced by most newspapers nationwide – dramatically rising newsprint and health care costs; revenue declines from advertisers who are struggling themselves; declines in readership because of (at least in part) a shift to getting news online; an Internet business model in which The News gets only a portion of online advertising – these are just a few of the challenges. (MLive, which operates the websites for The News and seven other papers owned by the Newhouse family in Michigan, as well as the Business Review publications, is a sister company.)

A shrinking newsroom is another serious challenge. Since my last day on Aug. 1, four others have resigned: Dave McVety, a long-time assistant sports editor, is taking a job at MLive; Jordan Miller, a part-time but prolific reporter, has taken a job at an ad agency; Lisa Allmendinger, a freelancer who provided much of the coverage in Chelsea, Dexter and Saline, has joined the Heritage papers, which publishes weekly in those areas.

The highest-profile departure is sports columnist Jim Carty – he’s leaving The News after this weekend’s UM football game, and has already started law school at the University of Toledo. His decision to leave will no doubt further fuel speculation about the paper’s future, though his reasons were a combination of personal and professional.

The people in a newsroom matter, because it’s the relationships they build and the understanding they have about the community that makes the paper credible. Those who remain at The News are burdened with shouldering more of the load, both for gathering news and for reaching out to the community. I wish them well.

It’s our hope here at The Chronicle that we can survive and thrive in a market with many media choices, whether it’s The Ann Arbor News, Arbor Update, the Ann Arbor Observer, Concentrate, Current, the Michigan Daily, Ann Arbor Business Review, WUOM, WCBN, KOOL-107 or any other of the many media options in this area – including ones that might not yet exist.

In a world with so many demands on our time, it might be natural to crave only one source for local news. But isn’t it better to seek a balanced news diet from a variety of sources – even ones you might not agree with or like? Of course we hope The Chronicle is an important part of that mix. Today, at least, we go well with champagne.

Ann Arbor News columnist Geoff Larcom, center, talks with Julia Eisendrath and Jonathan Martin during Tuesday evening's reception for Knight-Wallace Fellows.

Journalists from across the globe gathered Tuesday evening in the terraced backyard of the Wallace House, mingling with guests from UM and the community to kick off this year’s Knight-Wallace Fellows program.

Each year, about 20 mid-career journalists are picked for the eight-month program, coming to Ann Arbor to live and study a topic of their choice. They take a leave of absence from their jobs, receive a stipend and get access to UM resources.

Last year, Ann Arbor News reporter Tracy Davis was selected for the program, studying globalization and world ecology. This year, columnist Geoff Larcom will research the psychology of leadership.

Charles Eisendrath, director of the Knight-Wallace Fellows program, talks with a guest at this year's welcoming reception. He's wearing his trademark bow tie and hat.

On Tuesday, two university administrators, David Lampe and John King (both K-W board members), were on hand to officially welcome the fellows and their guests. Lampe is UM’s vice president of communications and a former journalist; King is UM’s vice provost for academic information.

Lampe urged the fellows to take advantage of the university’s vast resources: “We know who knows what about what.” King called UM “a terrific sandbox.” (As an aside, he also noted UM’s large number of student organizations – over 1,000, including The Squirrel Club, which sells its T-shirts for $12.)

The keynote speaker – Andrew Whitehead, head of core news for BBC World Service Radio – was a K-W fellow in 2004, and researched the origins of the India/Pakistan conflict over Kashmir. The work resulted in his book, “Mission in Kashmir,” published last year.

Championed by veteran journalist Mike Wallace, the Knight-Wallace Fellows is fairly low-key in the Ann Arbor community, but boasts powerful connections in the profession: Board members include Wallace, ABC News anchor Charles Gibson, and Jill Abramson, managing editor of The New York Times. High-profile visitors – including, in the past, Bill Cosby, Michael Moore and George Soros – are also known to drop by Wallace House during the year.

Features of the K-W program also worth mentioning: the twice-weekly sherry hours and trips to Istanbul and Buenos Aires. For journalists who’ve earned entree to this rarefied community, it’s a special eight months indeed.

Former U.S. Congressman Joe Schwarz was among those attending Tuesday's reception at the Wallace House on Oxford. He's teaching a course this semester at UM's Ford School of Public Policy.