This is the fifth post in a series about how art galleries are using the iPad in their business.

A few galleries (who shall remain nameless) had iPads at their AAF gallery booths but were not taking full advantage of what they can offer. One gallerist didn’t know how to turn it on. Another she said it was too time-consuming to find the right piece of art on the iPad, so she was using her laptop to show work to prospective buyers, and using the iPad only for reading and sending email.

In order to take advantage of the iPad’s capability for showing off art, it’s essential that the device be pre-loaded with images in folders (also known as albums). Otherwise it’s indeed too difficult to find a specific piece of art among the dozens or hundreds on the device.

Loading the iPad with images in albums is a two-step process. First, use iPhoto to make albums and drop the relevant images into each album. Different ways to sort art into albums might be by artist, or by series, or by medium. Each album should have no more than 20 images in it, so the user can see them all at a glance. Of course, make sure you give the albums useful names.

Second, use iTunes to load up only the albums you want onto the iPad, by manually selecting them in the Photo tab of iTunes. Then sync the iPad. Your images will be resized and moved over to the iPad, and visible in the Photos app.