A village gossip would know where everyone is in the day so if your looking for someone special you can go to that certain villager and ask them. That would be helpful early in the game as your just getting to know people.
And a brief summary of the info could be added to each NPC's screen on your heart tab, similar to how you build up a list of known loved/liked/etc. gifts.
Not sure who the gossip villager should be. , , , someone else? Or spread it out entirely, such that a given NPC will only have this kind of gossip about people they're close to? For example, if you want to find , you'd ask , , or .
For this idea, I think Gus would be good because he's the bartender. Also, we pretty much always know where he is. The other method sounds good too, but you might be worried about it getting a little confusing. I still like it though!
I think it's a really cool concept, and I'd love to see it in early game, and maybe even throughout the game.
(Not overwhelmingly a lot, just enough -- If that makes sense? xD)