We strive towards a world where communities’ aspirations are uplifted in the libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions they build.
Projects
METRO works alongside our membership to address common challenges and move the library and archives fields forward.
Archipelago
An evolving Open Source Digital Objects Repository / DAM Server Architecture based on the popular CMS Drupal 10/11 and released under GPL V.3 License.
Cross-Reference Coalition
An experimental school tracing exuberantly interdisciplinary links among New York City’s libraries, archives, and other knowledge institutions.
Digital Culture of Metropolitan New York
Providing online access to digital collections that document the history of the Metropolitan New York region.
Library Field
A place to deepen our relationships—between institutions, communities, and individuals—and the earth.
Mission
METRO works to create a sustainable culture of creativity, collaboration, and open exchange for libraries, archives, museums, and cultural institutions in the Metropolitan New York region and around the world.
We accomplish our mission through leadership, grantmaking, resource sharing, professional learning, research, technology services, creative practice, and more.
Other News
September 28, 2026 | Allison Sherrick
METRO joins the IIIF Consortium
We are pleased to announce that METRO has joined the International Image Interoperability Framework Consortium as an Associate member. IIIF is a set of open standards for delivering high-quality, attributed digital objects online at scale. It’s also an international community developing and implementing the IIIF APIs. IIIF is backed by a consortium of leading cultural…
July 6, 2026 | Becca Quon
Announcing ‘Public Study,’ a fall course from METRO’s Cross-Reference Coalition
We’re thrilled to share the Call for Applications for the next course from the Cross-Reference Coalition: an interdisciplinary community learning project from the Metropolitan New York Library Council (METRO). The program launched in 2025 with courses on The Misfit and Search & Discovery, which you can explore via our newly-launched website, crc.metro.org, and we now…
January 16, 2026 | Mary Bakija
Library Field Report 2025
From July through November of 2025 we led participants from METRO member institutions on a 15-stop, 2-hour hike at the Library Field as part of our ongoing participatory design process. This report is a review of the input we received, and it offers some insight into what our next steps will be based on that…