DEI metadata work has several goals: enhancing diverse representation in descriptive metadata; improving discovery of diverse resources; and mitigating negative effects of inaccurate, outdated, or offensive terminology. Through this work, librarians support their institutions’ commitments to foster a welcoming environment, provide access and opportunity, and promote a sense of belonging. Making metadata more inclusive also can be viewed as an effort toward sustainability—the tenth of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals is “reduced inequalities.” There has been a growing body of DEI metadata resources with valuable advice from innovative and forward-thinking metadata creators. However, these are scattered, not always easy to find, and require time to review and synthesize.
With the collaboration of the Iowa State University Digital Press, and building on the important groundwork laid by many others, five librarians wrote a handbook to provide guidelines for metadata work that focuses on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Our vision was to produce a one-stop, introductory reference, and make it freely available through open access.
The presentation will summarize the contents of the book, which is geared toward professionals in library and information science, archives, and other information management industries, and its publication process.
