diff --git a/build.sh b/build.sh
index 564fecd..9db6d06 100755
--- a/build.sh
+++ b/build.sh
@@ -58,8 +58,10 @@ convert_to_array() {
 }
 
 add_date_to_array() {
-	meta_array["date"]="$(date -r $1 +'%b %d, %Y')"
-
+	if test -z "${meta_array[date]}"; then # If there is no existing date in the metadata
+		meta_array["date"]="$(date -r $1 +'%b %d, %Y')"
+	fi
+	echo "${meta_array[date]}"
 }
 
 add_header_and_footer() {