International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives


The International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives 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.

IASA aims

The IASA constitution states the following purposes:
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, and the IASA web site.

Annual conferences

IASA has held a conference each year since its inception, sometimes in partnership with related organisations. In 2010, IASA and the Association of Moving Image Archivists came together for the first time in a 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 in Vilnius, Lithuania, was held in association with the Baltic Audiovisual Archival Council. The will be in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
YearHost countryCo-organiser
1969Amsterdam, Netherlands
1970Leipzig, German Democratic Republicwith IAML
1971St Gallen, Switzerlandwith IAML
1972Bologna, Italywith IAML
1973London, United Kingdomwith IAML
1974Jerusalem, Israelwith IAML
1975Montreal, Canadawith IAML
1976Bergen, Norwaywith IAML
1977Mainz, Federal Republic of Germanywith IAML
1978Lisbon, Portugalwith IAML
1979Salzburg, Austriawith IAML
1980Cambridge, United Kingdomwith IAML
1981Budapest, Hungarywith IAML
1982Brussels, Belgiumwith IAML
1983Washington DC, United Stateswith IAML
1984Como, Italywith IAML
1985East Berlin, German Democratic Republicwith IAML
1986Stockholm, Swedenwith IAML
1987Amsterdam, Netherlandswith IAML
1988Vienna, AustriaFirst IASA solo conference
1989Oxford, United Kingdomwith IAML
1990Ottawa, Canadawith ARSC & Canadian Association of Music Libraries
1991Sopron, Hungary
1992Canberra, Australiawith ASRA
1993Helsinki, Finlandwith IAML
1994Berlin, Germanywith FIAT
1995Washington DC, United Stateswith FIAT & ARSC
1996Perugia, Italywith IAML
1997Muscat, Sultanate of Oman
1998Paris, Francewith AFAS
1999Vienna, AustriaArbeitsgemeinschaft audiovisueller Archive Österreichs
2000SingaporeNational Archives of Singapore, with Southeast Asia-Pacific Audio Visual Archives Association
2001London, United KingdomThe British Library
2002Arhus, DenmarkStatsbibioteket - State and University Library, Denmark
2003Pretoria, South Africa
2004Oslo, Norwaywith IAML
2005Barcelona, Spain
2006Mexico City, Mexico
2007Riga, LatviaLatvian Television, Baltic Audiovisual Archival Council
2008Sydney, AustraliaAustralian National Maritime Museum
2009Athens, GreeceHellenic National Audiovisual Archive
2010Philadelphia, United Stateswith Association of Moving Image Archivists
2011Frankfurt, GermanyGerman National Library
Hessischer Rundfunk
German Broadcasting Archive
2012New Delhi, IndiaAIIS Archives and Research Center for Ethnomusicology
2013Vilnius, LithuaniaVilnius University, Baltic Audiovisual Archival Council
2014Cape Town, South AfricaNational Library of South Africa's Center for the Book
2015Paris, FranceBibliothèque nationale de France
2016Washington DC, United StatesLibrary of Congress
2017BerlinEthnological Museum
2018Accra, GhanaInstitute of African Studies, University of Ghana
2019Hilversum, NetherlandsNetherlands Institute for Sound and Vision
2020Dublin, Trinity College Dublin, Irelandwith 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.

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:
An initial version of video digitisation and preservation standards, Guidelines for the Preservation of Video Recordings, was published in 2018.

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 and for participating in annual conferences:
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.
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 2017 to 2020:
IASA Committees focus on topics that are of common interest to all archives and collections. IASA Sections provide a platform for the exchange of information between specific types of archives and collections.

Organising Knowledge Committee

The Organising Knowledge Committee concerns itself with standards and rules as well as with systems, automated or manual, for the documentation and cataloguing of audiovisual media. Officers of the Organising Knowledge Committee are elected within the committee. The committees exclusively decide on the objects and tasks they deal with.
The Discography Committee deals with standards and recommended practices, as well as current and ongoing projects involving published recordings. Officers of the Discography Committee are elected within the committee. The committees exclusively decide on the objects and tasks they deal with.
The Technical Committee devotes itself to all technical aspects of sound and audiovisual recordings. This includes the actual recording processes, optimisation of reproduction of historical and modern recordings, transfer and digitisation technologies, standards and storage technologies, software and carriers. The Technical Committee is concerned with the preservation of sound and audiovisual media and technically sustainable approaches to future access. The creation of special publications enabling the AV archive community to take educated decisions regarding this, is a main concern of the committee.
The Technical Committee has delivered several papers, which serve as technical guidelines, in the series Standards, Recommended Practices and Strategies. Officers of the Technical Committee are elected within the committee. The committees exclusively decide on the objects and tasks they deal with.
The Training & Education Committee seeks to create and support an Audiovisual archival community who are knowledgeable, professional, capable of caring for their collections effectively, and acknowledged as such by their institutions or wider professional community. Officers of the Training & Education Committee are elected within the committee. The committees exclusively decide on the objects and tasks they deal with. The Training and Education Committee concerns itself with audiovisual archiving Training & Education, as well as concentrated actions in gaining multifunctional training and education material.
The National Archives Section is where members meet to consider issues facing officially designated national collections, e.g. acquisition policies, legal deposit, the management of large collections, whether held in archives, museums, libraries, dedicated audiovisual organisations or research institutes and universities.
The Broadcast Archives Section handles the special responsibilities of audiovisual archives in broadcast companies.
The Europeana Sounds Task Force works on the following activities:
National and regional branches of IASA, with their own membership and activities, exist for Austria, Britain and Ireland and German-Swissgerman regions.