We all get a great education in the classroom through Tufts – but how to continue that process once we’re out in the big, bad real world? And how to apply the great lessons that we’re getting from the theory to the practice?

One of the best ways to keep learning and keep a critical eye is to keep visiting museums. Collect all the information you can – brochures, gallery guides, and photographs of labels, object placement, gallery layout, everything you can think of. (I once took a picture of where a bathroom door was located relative to a column as a sort of  “don’t try this at home, kids” bad example.)

So you get home from a museum trip and you’ve collected everything. Now what? That’s where I’m hoping you will help out – or at least start to think about for yourself.

Do you file everything by museum, or by type of literature? (A folder of gallery guides, or everything ever from the MFA?)

Do you cull through your photographs, or just dump them on your hard drive? Then do you file them by museum, or by example?

How do you flag your best and worst examples?

Do you put things online? Do you worry about copyright and privacy and exposing yourself if you do so, and develop a not-so-flattering opinion of the museum in question?

Talk about it here in comments, and at the very least – think about it. Developing your arsenal of examples is key to both your ongoing critical eye and your future career prospects.