The main entry or primary access point for collection-level records is the title proper, see 1B, or uniform title, see Appendix A.

Optionally, archives may choose to use a personal name or corporate body as the main entry.

The title of each record is constructed by the cataloger.  Titles should generally be in the language and script of the archive with an attempt to make them both descriptive and distinctive, highlighting the factors which hold the collection together.

Types of data appropriate for such supplied titles may include the following, not necessarily in this order:

name of collection (for previously named collections);

name of creator, creating body, collector, or source (provenance);

languages;

geographic locations;

genre or form;

principal subjects--persons, events, topics, activities, objects, and dates of subject coverage.

245 00 $a [Peace rallies and marches in the 1970s].

245 05 $a [The Edward W. Brooke Collection of film and video materials relating to his political career, 1963-1978].

If a collection is too large or complex to be cataloged on one collection-level record, then the cataloging of the collection may be handled by further refining of the collection.  The collection can be divided into parts, each of which would be represented on a single collection-level record.

245 00 $a [Universal Collection. $p Features, 1929-1952].

245 00 $a [Universal Collection. $p Shorts, 1929-1952].

Another method of cataloging a very large or complex collection is to divide the cataloging into more than one record.  See C7.

See also:

Appendix C4.  Descriptive cataloging

Appendix C:  Collection-Level Cataloging