1. A computer-implemented method for accessing data through a distributed metabase, comprising: receiving a request to access data stored on a storage device; selecting at least one of multiple distributed metabases containing metadata related to the data stored on the storage device, wherein the metadata includes classifications of the data stored on the storage device, and wherein the selecting includes— determining characteristics of the multiple distributed metabases, evaluating the characteristics against one or more criteria, and selecting the at least one metabase based on the evaluation; sending the request to the at least one selected metabase; and accessing the data based on the metadata contained by the at least one selected metabase.