[OAI-implementers] Beginners question

[John W. Horlock]

I have just started to look in making my databases OAI compliant.
I am currently running an image search engine which users use to search for
images and return results via a web page. All the pages are ASP with VBScript
and JavaScript.
The data is contained within a table in SQL server. What I am confused about
is, the table I am going to create for the metadata is going to contain
duplicate data e.g. contributor, date added etc... as these are all required
to be displayed to user upon a search request.

My basic understanding (which I think is wrong at the moment) is I'll have my
main table which houses all the data, then a smaller table which contains
metadata about each record, which is in a valid XML format.
Are there any other factors which I need to be aware of for my databases?

I'm trying to comprehend the workings but it's not very clear.

Thank you for you help.
John