The International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA) was established in 1969 to serve as a forum for international co-operation between archives, libraries, and individuals interested in the preservation of recorded sound and audiovisual documents.Lance, D. (ed.) (1984) Sound Archives. A Guide to their Establishment and Development. IASA Special Publication no. 4Scharlau, Ulf. (1999). A personal review of thirty years of IASA (1969-1999). IASA Information Bulletin, August 1999, Special Issue, pp 8-11Assmann, I. (2009) International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA). In: Encyclopedia of Library and Information Sciences, Third Edition . Taylor & Francis
IASA aims The IASA constitutionIASA constitution states the following purposes: To strengthen co-operation between archives and other institutions which preserve sound and audiovisual documents. To initiate and encourage activities that develop and improve the organisation, administration and contents of recorded sound and audiovisual collections, and, in pursuance of these aims, to co-operate with other organisations in related fields. To study all techniques relevant to the work of sound and audiovisual archives and other institutions which preserve these documents and to disseminate the results of such study on an international scale. To encourage, on an international level, the exchange of sound and audiovisual documents and of literature and information relating to these documents. To stimulate and further by every means the preservation, documentation and dissemination of all recorded sound and audiovisual collections.
Membership IASA has members from more than 70 countries representing a broad palette of audiovisual archives and personal interests which are distinguished by their focus on particular subjects and areas, for example: archives for all sorts of musical recordings, historic, literary, folkloric and ethnological sound documents, theatre productions and oral history interviews, bio-acoustics, environmental and medical sounds, linguistic and dialect recordings, as well as recordings for forensic purposes.
IASA activities IASA promotes the open and ongoing exchange of ideas and information on current issues in the audiovisual field via annual conferences, an IASA Journal, email list and the IASA web site.
Annual conferences IASA has held a conference each year since its inception, sometimes in partnership with related organisations.IASA conferences In 2010, IASA and the Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA) came together for the first time in a joint IASA-AMIA conference held in Philadelphia, USA. With more than 750 participants and more than 100 presentations and lectures this was one of the biggest conferences in the audiovisual archiving field ever. The 2013 conference in Vilnius, Lithuania, was held in association with the Baltic Audiovisual Archival Council. The 2019 conference was held in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Year Host country Co-organiser 1969 Amsterdam, Netherlands 1970 Leipzig, German Democratic Republic with IAML 1971 St Gallen, Switzerland with IAML 1972 Bologna, Italy with IAML 1973 London, United Kingdom with IAML 1974 Jerusalem, Israel with IAML 1975 Montreal, Canada with IAML 1976 Bergen, Norway with IAML 1977 Mainz, Federal Republic of Germany with IAML 1978 Lisbon, Portugal with IAML 1979 Salzburg, Austria with IAML 1980 Cambridge, United Kingdom with IAML 1981 Budapest, Hungary with IAML 1982 Brussels, Belgium with IAML 1983 Washington DC, United States with IAML 1984 Como, Italy with IAML 1985 East Berlin, German Democratic Republic with IAML 1986 Stockholm, Sweden with IAML 1987 Amsterdam, Netherlands with IAML 1988 Vienna, Austria First IASA solo conference 1989 Oxford, United Kingdom with IAML 1990 Ottawa, Canada with ARSC & Canadian Association of Music Libraries 1991 Sopron, Hungary 1992 Canberra, Australia with ASRA 1993 Helsinki, Finland with IAML 1994 Berlin, Germany with FIAT/IFTA 1995 Washington DC, United States with FIAT/IFTA & ARSC 1996 Perugia, Italy with IAML 1997 Muscat, Sultanate of Oman 1998 Paris, France with AFAS 1999 Vienna, Austria Arbeitsgemeinschaft audiovisueller Archive Österreichs 2000 Singapore National Archives of Singapore, with Southeast Asia-Pacific Audio Visual Archives Association (SEAPAVAA) 2001 London, United Kingdom The British Library 2002 Arhus, Denmark Statsbibioteket - State and University Library, Denmark 2003 Pretoria, South Africa 2004 Oslo, Norway with IAML 2005 Barcelona, Spain 2006 Mexico City, Mexico 2007 Riga, Latvia Latvian Television, Baltic Audiovisual Archival Council 2008 Sydney, Australia Australian National Maritime Museum 2009 Athens, Greece Hellenic National Audiovisual Archive 2010 Philadelphia, United States with Association of Moving Image Archivists 2011 Frankfurt, Germany German National LibraryHessischer RundfunkGerman Broadcasting Archive 2012 New Delhi, India AIIS Archives and Research Center for Ethnomusicology 2013 Vilnius, Lithuania Vilnius University, Baltic Audiovisual Archival Council 2014 Cape Town, South Africa National Library of South Africa's Center for the Book 2015 Paris, France Bibliothèque nationale de France 2016 Washington DC, United States Library of Congress 2017 Berlin Ethnological Museum 2018 Accra, Ghana Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana 2019 Hilversum, Netherlands Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision 2020 Dublin, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland with International Federation of Television Archives, Raidió Teilifís Éireann. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic and the uncertainties it brings, the Organising committee has made the decision to host a virtual conference instead of a physical meeting. 2021 Virtual conference, 2022 Mexico City, Mexico, Fonoteca Nacional
Publications IASA follows closely the progress of technology and members can call upon a pool of expertise for help and advice on various aspects, ranging from digitisation to metadata to technical issues. In this regard, IASA has published a number of special publications:
The Safeguarding of the Audio Heritage: Ethics, Principles and Preservation Strategy (IASA-TC 03) Guidelines on the Production and Preservation of Digital Audio Objects (IASA-TC 04) Handling and Storage of Audio and Video Carriers (IASA-TC 05) Guidelines for the Preservation of Video Recordings (IASA-TC 06) IASA Cataloguing Rules (also a Spanish version as Reglas de Catalogación de IASA) Task Force on Selection for Digital Transfer. Ethical Principles for Sound and Audiovisual Archives
Awards and grants The organisation issues awards for outstanding contributions to the profession of sound and audiovisual archiving, as well as financial support for research, for training, and for participating in annual conferences: Since 2004 the IASA Award of Recognition for outstanding service has been awarded each year to an IASA member The status of Honorary Member of IASA is awarded to individuals as a mark of special service in the work of sound and audiovisual archives Travel Awards are awarded annually to selected IASA members to offset the costs of active participation in an annual conference. Research Grants are awarded on an occasional basis to support original research and publication on audiovisual archiving. The Dietrich Schüller Award for Audiovisual Training supports attendance at training courses.
Collaboration IASA has long standing relationships with international organisations such as UNESCO and Europeana and is a respected partner in various international audiovisual archive projects. IASA is a founding member of the CCAAA (Co-ordinating Council of Audiovisual Archive Associations).
In 2012 and 2013, IASA hosted the official website of the UNESCO World Day for Audiovisual Heritage, an event held annually on 27 October to raise awareness of the significance of and threats to sound and moving image heritage worldwide.
Executive Board and President Executive Board Term of office from 2020 to 2023: President: Tre Berney, Director of Digitization and Conservation, Cornell University Library Past President: Toby Seay, Professor, Drexel University Vice-president (Membership): Margarida Ullate i Estanyol, Director of the Sound & Audiovisual Unit, BIBLIOTECA DE CATALUNYA Vice-president (Conferences): Perla Olivia Rodríguez Reséndiz, Instituto de Investigaciones Bibliotecológicas y de la Información, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Vice-president (Communications): Judith Opoku-Boateng, J. H. Kwabena Nketia Archives, Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana Secretary-General: Elisabeth Steinhäuser, Multimediales Archiv / Audioarchiv, Österreichischer Rundfunk Orf/ Austrian Broadcasting Corporation Treasurer: Yuri Shimoda, UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive Editor: Jennifer Vaughn, Archive Unit, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Web Manager: Richard Ranft, Head of Sound & Vision The British Library
President
Source:
1969-1972: Donald Leavitt (Library of Congress, USA) 1972-1975: Timothy Eckersley (BBC, United Kingdom) 1975-1978: Dietrich Schüller (Austrian Academy of Sciences, Austria) 1978-1981: Rolf L. Schuursma (Foundation Film and Science, The Netherlands) 1981-1984: David G. Lance (Imperial War Museum, United Kingdom) 1984-1987: Ulf Scharlau (Süddeutscher Rundfunk, Germany) 1987-1990: Helen P. Harrison (Open University, United Kingdom) 1990-1993: Gerald D. Gibson (Library of Congress, USA) 1993-1996: James McCarthy (National Film and Sound Archives, Australia) 1996-1999: Sven Allerstrand (Arkivet för Ljud och Bild, Sweden) 1999-2002: Crispin Jewitt (British Library Sound Archive, United Kingdom) 2002-2005: Kurt Deggeller (MEMORIAV, Switzerland) 2005-2008: Richard Green (Library & Archives Canada, Canada) 2008-2011: Kevin Bradley (National Library of Australia, Australia) 2011-2014: Jacqueline von Arb (Norwegian Institute of Recorded Sound, Norway) 2014-2017: Ilse Assman (M-Net, MultiChoice, South Africa) 2017-2020: Toby Seay (Drexel University, USA)
Previous Board members 1969-1972: Donald Leavitt (USA), Rolf L. Schuursma (The Netherlands), Claes Cnattingius (Sweden) 1981-1984: David G. Lance (United Kingdom), Peter Burgis (Australia), Dietrich Schüller (Austria), Rolf L. Schuursma (The Netherlands), Helen Harrison (United Kingdom), Poul von Linstow (Denmark), Ulf Scharlau (Germany), Ann Brieglib 1984-1987: Ulf Scharlau (Germany), Peter Burgis (Australia), David Lance (UK), Dietrich Lotichius (Germany), Helen Harrison (United Kingdom), Anna Maria Foyer (Sweden), Dietrich Schüller (Austria) 1987-1990: Helen P. Harrison (United Kingdom), Ulf Scharlau (Germany), Magdalena Csève (Hungary), Hans Bosma (Netherlands), Jean-Claude Hayoz, Anna Maria Foyer (Sweden), Grace Koch (Australia) 1990-1993: Gerald D. Gibson (USA), Helen P. Harrison (United Kingdom), Magdalena Csève (Hungary), Hans Bosma (Netherlands), Giorgio Adamo (Italy), Sven Allerstrand (Sweden), Marit Grimstad (Norway), Grace Koch (Australia) 1993-1996: James McCarthy (Australia), Gerald D. Gibson (USA), Magdalena Csève (Hungary), Giorgio Adamo (Italy), Kurt Degeller (Switzerland), Sven Allerstrand (Sweden), Mark Jones (UK), Helen Harrison (UK) 1996-1999: Sven Allerstrand (Sweden), James McCarthy (Australia), Magdalena Csève (Hungary), Martin Elste (Germany), Gerald Gibson (USA), Albrecht Häfner (Germany), Mark Jones (UK), Chris Clark (UK) 1999-2002: Crispin Jewitt (United Kingdom), Sven Allerstrand (Sweden), Magdalena Csève (Hungary), John Spence (Australia), Maria Carla Cavagnis Sotgiu (Italy), Albrecht Häfner (Germany), Pekka Gronow (Finland), Chris Clark (UK) 2002-2005: Kurt Deggeller (Switzerland), Crispin Jewitt (United Kingdom), Magdalena Csève (Hungary), Shubha Chaudhuri (India), Richard Green (Canada), Eva Fønss-Jørgensen (Denmark), Anke Leenings (Germany), Ilse Assmann (South Africa)