September 29, 2025. The Ann Arbor District Library announced that it plans to acquire the Ann Arbor Observer, one of Ann Arbor's most beloved publications, serving the community since 1976. The acquisition is subject to the parties finalizing the terms of a purchase agreement.

"The mission of the Ann Arbor District Library includes assuring public ownership of, and access to, print and digital resources for the community, and there is no publication in Ann Arbor that is as valuable to the people in our community as the Ann Arbor Observer," said AADL Director Eli Neiburger.

"This acquisition would build on AADL's years of archiving and digitizing the Observer to ensure this precious community asset stays in public hands, accessible to all, in perpetuity. We thank its owners, publisher Patricia Garcia and editor John Hilton, for all that they've done for the community in building, nurturing, and bringing the Observer to this point where its future is assured."

"It's been an honor to lead the Observer for the past thirty-nine years," said Garcia and Hilton. "We are thrilled and grateful that the library is committed to its future as an independent local news source.

"The Observer would remain an independent, ad-funded business owned by the AADL, maintaining its own finances, management structure, and editorial independence," they added. "It would continue to be available free to all permanent residents."

"We're grateful to the library for its vision, and to all who sustain the Observer: our amazing advertisers, our incredible staff, and our wonderful readers and Observer Friends."

Founders Don and Mary Hunt published and edited the magazine for its first decade; Garcia and Hilton purchased it in 1986.

Learn more about the Ann Arbor Observer

View digitized copies of the Observer from 1976-2022, along with the Observer's Art Fair Guide (1978-2003) and Ann Arbor City Guide (1987-2021): https://aadl.org/annarborobserver

See Ann Arbor Observer: Then & Now, a collection of local history articles published in the Observer over the past three decades: https://aadl.org/aaobserver

In June 2024, Garcia and Hilton were interviewed for AADL Talks To about their time as publisher and editor of the Ann Arbor Observer, along with how they came to own the Observer, how the community has changed in nearly 40 years, and how they weathered changes in the media industry and the pandemic: https://aadl.org/aadl_talks_to-patricia_garcia_john_hilton