Another important issue relates to the management of the metadata itself. Being part of the archival processes it needs to be at hand, containing crucial information necessary to reconstruct the original document it must be retained inviolately.
Metadata can be stored within the resource it describes or separate. Managing the metadata separately, for example in a database, normally makes the process of resource discovery more efficient. Yet, for the sake of integrity, all important information should be tightly coupled with the resource (cf. Section 2.3.3). Keeping metadata close to the document itself is beneficial for the management of the system, as both will mutually persist in the archive [LM00].
To find consensus on this, it is distinguished between such metadata that is used regularly and such that is requested very infrequently, or even only at times the document is accessed. In principle, all necessary information should be stored together as a collection item. However, metadata which is accessed frequently since it is necessary for archival processes can be duplicated and registered elsewhere as well. For example, indices could be created holding author, title, and the internal identifier of the collection item to improve on accessibility.
Being part of an collection item the metadata will itself have to be subject to authentication and preservation strategies over time.