Christmas 2022—My best friend Emily gifted me a personalized paper embosser that reads "From The Library of Robert Swetlic." She imagined it would help identify the many volumes across the five bookshelves jammed into my bedroom as part of a single collection. Her thoughtful gift got me thinking about what constitutes a library. Wikipedia (yes, it is a reliable source) defines a library as "a collection of materials, books or media... which may vary widely in size, may be organized for use and maintained by... a private individual." By this definition, my assortment of 788 books, magazines, CDs, and DVDs fulfills these requirements.
As a child, I kept a simple list of the books I owned in alphabetical order. This gift inspired me to start that list anew, albeit with a more intentional cataloguing. I now present the Personal Library: A reflection of my passions, interests, and history recorded in a single document. This will be a living project, updated over time to reflect additions and subtractions to the evolving collection.
Notes on the Collection
This list counts items that are identical copies as one item. Example: Three identical copies of ARTPOP (Lady Gaga) are counted as one item, as there is no variance between them. Items which are similar but with differing contents, such as the standard and deluxe editions of the album Future Nostalgia (Dua Lipa) are counted as separate items.
Ebooks, digital music albums, and download-only movies that exist only in digital format are not included.
The year associated with each book does NOT reflect the first year of publication, but the year of the specific edition in the Personal Collection.