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If I were to put together collections of scientific lectures either by speaker or topic, what might I call them as a whole, if all the collections too were grouped into one item?

I am looking for a word that is similar to anthology, but that seems to refer exclusively to literary content. I have thought about series, but what if you have a collection of series (like, what would all the series of Star Trek be called if they were put into one set)? Simply, I have considered collection and selection, and more aptly, compilation. Collection might work but it seems to general of a word and compilation seems accurate, but kind of sounds like tech jargon. A single word would be nice, but I am open to a two or three word combo. As it sits now, I feel stuck with [unique name] collection series.

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  • "Star Trek: The Boxset", "Star Trek: Every Trek".... Be careful though, in the UK they use series for what Americans call a season.
    – Elliott Frisch
    Jan 24, 2014 at 23:55
  • @Elliot That is good to know. Though I am American, this product will be sold and marketed to both. However, there is no recurring element to the content. The lectures were given at conferences that are not necessarily associated with each other. So maybe series is not really a good word at all.
    – user39425
    Jan 24, 2014 at 23:59
  • But as time goes, I will be making more collections so maybe series is good, because they will be recurring every other year or so.
    – user39425
    Jan 25, 2014 at 0:07
  • Perhaps then "lecture series".
    – Elliott Frisch
    Jan 25, 2014 at 0:52
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    Have you considered the term compendium?
    – JLG
    Jan 25, 2014 at 16:55

2 Answers 2

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If it were me, I would prefer [whatever] Library.

The [something] Collection works great though. See for example The Criterion Collection.

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    Film library is a very common term in the movie industry. A library may be a collection with one theme (e.g., by actor, director, time period), multiple collections with their own unrelated themes, or just a random collection for the sake of being collected.
    – Canis Lupus
    Jan 25, 2014 at 6:43
  • I have used the word Library before and did consider it for this, but I think it implies entirety. It might work with a slight rebranding in some other areas.
    – user39425
    Jan 25, 2014 at 16:05
  • For my part, I consider a library to be a work in progress. For example, on my computer I have a music library, which I'm constantly updating - just as a public library is always making aquisitions.
    – Adam Brown
    Jan 25, 2014 at 20:30
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Video and literary collections often use Complete Series to indicate that the collection comprises all works related to the title, rather than a single season or subseries. Literary and musical collections often use Complete Works to indicate the same thing.

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  • I'm still trying to refine my question. The Star Trek series example I gave is close, but all the various compilations are only related by scientific field, so seeing them side-by-side does not necessarily imply that they are part of the same thing.
    – user39425
    Jan 25, 2014 at 0:05
  • It's the complete that indicates that the collection is comprehensive rather than limited to a particular series of lectures or point in time.
    – Bradd Szonye
    Jan 25, 2014 at 0:09
  • I think complete is not appropriate, given fredsbend's recent comments, since he plans to continue to add more content.
    – Adam Brown
    Jan 25, 2014 at 6:02
  • Good point. You could infer “complete up to this point,” but usually Complete X is used for retrospective collections of series/works that aren't expected to get new entries.
    – Bradd Szonye
    Jan 27, 2014 at 23:50

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