Lidia Santarelli (Princeton University Library)

Transitioning to the Next Generation of Metadata: A Cultural Shift in Information Resource Description

The Next Generation of Metadata Report, which synthesizes six years (2015-2020) of collaborative inquiry between Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) and its research library partners, foretells a cultural shift in the meta-language of information resource description in libraries, archives, and museums. This paper discusses the implications of this new metadata paradigm for digital methods, data design, and inclusive language in the computational humanities. The Report reframes the way in which we think of metadata on both cultural and technological levels and provides essential methods to build a more diverse, and integrated, global infrastructure of linked open data across institutional, linguistic, and national borders.