International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA)

The International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA) was established in 1969 in Amsterdam to function as a medium for international co-operation between archives that preserve recorded sound and audiovisual documents.

IASA has members from 70 countries representing a broad palette of audiovisual archives and personal interests which are distinguished by their focus on particular subjects and areas, eg 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 members represent a diverse range of collection interests, including music, folklore, oral history, historical and broadcast recordings, and are leaders in the development of good practice and the dissemination of information on collection development and access, documentation and metadata, copyright and ethics, and conservation and preservation.