Collation Collation is the assembly of written information into a standard order. One common type of collation is called alphabetisation, though collation is not limited to ordering letters of the alphabet. Collating lists of words or names into alphabetical order is the basis of most office filing systems, library catalogs and reference books.Collation differs from classification in that classification is concerned with arranging information into logical categories, while collation is concerned with the ordering of those categories.