The document discusses guidelines for creating shareable MODS metadata records for the DLF Aquifer initiative. It provides an overview of the Aquifer project and its goal of aggregating digital collections. The guidelines were developed to promote consistent, coherent metadata that is understandable and useful outside local contexts. It outlines required and recommended MODS elements and provides examples to allow varying levels of functionality for end users searching and browsing aggregated collections. Current and future work includes validation tools and converting between MODS and MARC formats.