An example script used for editing metadata on archive.org that utilizes the Archive's new Metadata Write API, and the Python HTTP library, Requests.

metadata_write_api.py

#!/usr/bin/env python
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
import os
import json

import requests

COOKIES = {'logged-in-sig': os.environ['LOGGED_IN_SIG'],
           'logged-in-user': os.environ['LOGGED_IN_USER'],
}


def write_metadata(item, patch, target="metadata"):
    params = json.dumps({"-patch": PATCH, "-target": target})
    url = 'http://archive.org/metadata/%s' % item
    r = requests.patch(url, params=params, cookies=COOKIES)
    return r.text

ITEM='meta-test-item'
PATCH = {"replace": "/title", "value": "Metadata Write API Test Item",
         "add": "/new-metadata-element", "value": "new metadata :: ∆ ∪†ƒ-∞ ∆"
}

print write_metadata(ITEM, PATCH)