I thought class tonight was refreshing.

As I listened to Government Information/GIS Librarian Joy Suh, I started thinking about ways I could make my stories richer and more informative.

I do worry, though, about overwhelming my readers with too many toys and multimedia add-ons. Something tells me that my readers would not feel that that is possible, though. I guess, in some ways, my real fear, then, is giving my readers so many toys that they won’t pay attention to my words. I am a word person. I worry about things like this.

I did get some ideas from Suh for things that I want to try, to incorporate into my work. I liked her tips about how to incorporate maps into my work. I think people can get some good information from maps.

I also liked the information that Suh provided about how to look up court cases on the library website.

I like writing court case stories and I think people like reading them. People need to know about the laws that affect them and how they are changing or how leaders are changing their interpretations of them.

I did think that I will need more time to figure out how to implement some of her other tips into my work. I think, for instance, that I would need more time to conduct research for stories using books and materials obtained from other libraries. I tend to think of news reporting as more immediate and less drawn-out. I know some reporters do long-term stories. Maybe I should become one of them.

I have given some thought to writing a news-style book. Maybe I could use some of this information for that purpose.

I am grateful, in any case for the lessons I received tonight. I just have to figure out how to make the best use of them.