Meet your June Cool Collector. This month, Tori chats to Flinders Uni Librarian, Kylie: A CD lover from waaaay back and a long-term & loyal customer of The Muses. Always wanted to know how a librarian stores their media? Read on to for some tips you'll want to have in your archive.

Tell us a bit about yourself.

I’m Kylie from Adelaide. I’m a librarian at Flinders Uni and a mad keen hiker and rockclimber. I’m passionate about live music and keep on listening to Triple J despite being a bit older now. Because I lived and worked in the UK for a time, there’s an Anglophile tinge to my music tastes.

What do you collect and when did it start?

CDs! It started around 26 years ago.

How would you describe your tastes?

Indie pop, rock, dancey electronica; plus some alt-folk, soul, psychedelic, trip hop, ambient.

I don’t like metal and some forms of jazz – I like to say ‘good musicianship’ to respect the differences!

What's your most prized item/possession/collection of items?

Penny Century by the Clouds and Regeneration by the Divine Comedy are among a handful of albums that go in the bushfire evacuation boxes on extreme summer days.

Tell us about your love of music and what it means to you.

I’ve always loved music and how it moves me. As a child, John Barry soundtracks gave me a weakness for strings (think Bjork’s Isobel, Beck’s Morning Phase album, Goldfrapp); Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds soundtrack brought about a taste for atmospheric electronica and rock. That’s just two of a bunch of childhood inspirations.

I buy downloadable music, but my true love is the CD format for something tangible to hold in my hands, the ritual of changing CDs in the player, the cover art and little booklets. Some say downloadable music is as high quality as bought CDs these days but you know, I love CDs.

Give us your top 10 (albums/movies/whatever you like) of all time:

It’s hard to nail down a personal top 10, there are so many albums that I love! Here are some standouts on the coffee table in the picture: OK Computer / Radiohead, Broken Bells self-titled album, Harlequin Dream / Boy & Bear, Felt Mountain / Goldfrapp, 48:13 / Kasabian, The Understanding / Röyksopp, Pet Sounds / The Beach Boys, Wildflower / the Avalanches, Woodface / Crowded House, Moon Safari / Air and Parklife / Blur.

Because of a thing that did the rounds on Facebook I have a list of ‘25 songs I can’t live without’. Such as The only way / Gotye, Do you realise? / The Flaming Lips and Unfinished sympathy / Massive Attack. Very happy to have experienced some of my 25 song’ers live, including these three.

Give us some cool fact/trivia that we don't already know:

Tips for fellow album-lovers. If there are great ones but they remind you of a break-up or some other sad event, hang in there and in time, give them an airing, because it’s disappointing to never listen to certain great albums in your collection. On another note, for me some albums slot into ‘day music’, ‘night music’, ‘housework music’ – which is kinda comforting. Actually it’s good to mix it up and play the night music during the day and vice versa, and the housework music when you’re doing something else!

How do you store your collection?

On bookshelves away from direct sunlight, plus there’s a ‘banished’ shoebox of least favourite CDs (not that I plan to get rid of them). ‘High-rotation’ happens for recently bought CDs, which are nearest the player. Favourite tracks get format-shifted onto the laptop and mp3 player.

What are you coveting? What’s your holy grail? Do you own it yet?

I’m coveting the future! This may sound corny, but I’m always listening out for the next new well-crafted song.

Anything else you'd like to tell us?

It’s been a pleasure to share my love of music with you guys – thanks for interviewing me. Rock on.

Big thanks to Kylie for sharing her collection of loves with us.

Hey, we're searching for our next Cool Collector. You interested? Email us and let us know! If we feature you on our blog, you’ll get $50 to spend in our store.