The Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) is an organization that promotes the widespread adoption of interoperable metadata standards and develops specialized metadata vocabularies to enhance information discovery systems. The DCMI organizes international workshops and meetings to develop and maintain metadata standards and distributes educational or training resources. In addition, the DCMI offers tools, services, and infrastructure to support the management and maintenance of metadata in multiple languages.

The DCMI has developed from an informal group of researchers and practitioners with an interest in cross-domain metadata solutions to a more formal organizational structure, with a number of committees that have clear roles and responsibilities in the governance of the initiative. The Board of Trustees advises the directorate on strategic issues and the allocation of financial resources. The current Board members are based in various parts of the world (North America, Europe, Asia, Australia) and have a strong mix of backgrounds (libraries, education, information science, commerce, consultancy, international organizations and foundations).

There is a pressing need to create standards for the presentation and harvesting of electronic information. The mission of DCMI is to make it easier to find resources using the Internet. The DCMI addresses the issues involved in metadata analysis and access by developing metadata standards for discovery across domains, defining frameworks for the interoperation of metadata sets, and facilitating the development of metadata sets for specific communities or disciplines.