Purpose

Dartmouth Libraries is committed to advancing discovery, scholarship, and the public good by providing open and equitable access to information about our collections. Metadata, the structured information that describes, identifies, organizes, and enables discovery of library resources, is fundamental to enabling research, teaching, learning, and innovation. This Open Metadata Statement expresses Dartmouth Libraries’ commitment to making metadata openly accessible and reusable to the fullest extent possible, consistent with legal, ethical, and contractual obligations.

Scope

This statement applies to metadata created, curated, or managed by Dartmouth Libraries that describes library resources, including but not limited to bibliographic records, digital collections descriptions, authority data, and other structured descriptive information maintained by the Libraries.

Principles

1. Openness by Default:
   Dartmouth Libraries will make relevant descriptive metadata it creates openly available without restriction on access, reuse, redistribution, or modification, subject only to the limitations described in this statement. We support the broadest possible reuse and interoperability of metadata to enhance discovery and innovation.
2. Legal and Ethical Compliance:
   Metadata that is subject to legal, contractual, privacy, or ethical restrictions—such as metadata tied to individual user activity or proprietary third-party datasets—will not be released unless appropriate rights have been secured or the data are sufficiently anonymized. This statement does not supersede applicable laws, regulations, or agreements.
3. Licensing and Documentation:
   Open metadata will be clearly labeled with a widely recognized open license or dedication (such as CC0 or equivalent) that signals unrestricted reuse. Accompanying documentation will describe the source, structure, and licensing of metadata to support understanding and reuse by others. Where Dartmouth Libraries cannot apply an open license due to constraints, this will be clearly indicated.
4. Attribution and Community Norms:
   While open licenses such as CC0 do not legally require attribution, Dartmouth Libraries requests that users of our open metadata acknowledge Dartmouth Libraries as the source where feasible and appropriate, and share enhancements or derivatives under similar open terms to foster community benefit and collaboration.
5. Protection of Privacy:
   Metadata concerning individual library users or their activities will not be disclosed.
6. Continuous Improvement and Standards:
   Dartmouth Libraries will strive to adopt and maintain metadata standards and protocols that support interoperability, harvestability (e.g., via OAI-PMH and APIs), and the sustainable delivery of metadata for discovery and reuse across systems.

Implementation and Access

• Dartmouth Libraries will publish bibliographic metadata in open, machine-readable formats.
• The Libraries will partner with institutional and community platforms to disseminate metadata broadly and support innovative uses (e.g., research, teaching tools, discovery services, digital scholarship projects).
• Metadata release will be phased according to infrastructure readiness.

Governance

Oversight for this statement resides with Cataloging and Metadata Services, which will regularly review and update the statement to reflect evolving best practices, legal frameworks, and community needs. Dartmouth Libraries will review metadata releases periodically to ensure continued compliance with this statement’s goals and constraints.

Statement of Commitment

By adopting this Open Metadata Statement, Dartmouth Libraries affirms its dedication to the values of openness, collaboration, and public service inherent in our academic mission. Through open metadata, we seek to empower researchers, educators, students, and the broader community to explore, innovate, and build upon the knowledge that Dartmouth Libraries steward.