I put a label on a dataset with the label='Whatever' option. When I look at the properties of the dataset by right clicking in SAS explorer, the label shows up in the description field. But the description field is blank in the window listing the datasets in each library.
I noticed the same thing. Dataset labels show up as a property of datasets and in proc DATASETS and proc CONTENTS reports. They are not used anywhere else.IMHO they are useless as metadata.