About IASI

IASI History

Historical Sketch

The initial stimulus for IASI began in the late 1950s with communication among sport scientists and information specialists in the eastern and western European countries. Lead by professors Walther Arnold, Dr. Josef Recla and Julien Falize, the first meeting of an initial group took place in 1959 in Schielleiten, Austria. Conference participants were concerned about the work of the sports libraries and wished to rationalize, standardize and cooperate on the informational and documentation tasks in the emerging field of sport sciences. This resulted in the establishment of the Bureau for Documentation and Information (BDI) within the framework of the International Council for Sport and Physical Education (ICSPE/CIEPS). BDI soon after evolved into an independent organization, IASI.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s work centered on the establishment of sport documentation centres, working on sport terminology, creating a thesaurus, and introducing new technologies to enhance the identification, description and dissemination of sport information. The 1980s saw IASI become a worldwide organization, with English as its primary language of communication. The exchange of primary and secondary sources of sport information, the establishment of the SPORT Database as the recognized international sport database, and the support of UNESCO in it documentation efforts were the primary focus of the organization's work.

In the 1990s hopes for the amalgamation of the SPOLIT database with the SPORT Database did not come to fruition, however Australia's National Sport Information Centre became an important, major contributor to SPORTDiscus (the current name of the SPORT Database). During this decade IASI became a recognized organization by the IOC, produced a World Directory of Sport Libraries, Information and Documentation Centres (1996) and a brochure, and established a listserv, IASI-L that provided better communication for the membership.

For a more detailed account of IASI history see the Publications section for the IASI publication, Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow: Better Sport Documentation Through International Cooperation (IASI, 1994).

Past Presidents

1996-2001 Nerida Clarke (Australia)
1989-1996 Gilles Chiasson (Canada)
1985-1989 Siegfried Lachenicht (Germany)
1981-1984 Karl Ringli (Switzerland)
1977-1981 Morgan Olsen (Norway)
1972-1977 Joseph Recla (Austria)
1970-1972 Jaromir Tomanik (Czechoslovakia)
1967-1970 Julien Falize (Belgium)
1960-1967 Walther Arnold (Germany)

List of Past Congresses and Annual Meetings

Congresses

2001 - 11th, Lausanne, Switzerland
1997 - 10th, Paris, France
1993 - 9th, Rome, Italy
1985 - 8th, Dresden DDR
1981 - 7th, Snagov, Romania
1977 - 6th, Duisburg, FRG
1975 - 5th, Graz, Austria
1973 - 4th, Magglingen, Switzerland
1970 - 3rd, Schielleiten, Austria
1962 - 2nd, Leipzig
1961 - 1st, Cologne

See the Publications section for information on the Proceedings of Congresses.

Annual Meetings

2004 - Lisbon, Portugal

2003 - Havana, Cuba
2002 - Barcelona, Spain
2001 - Lausanne, Switzerland
2000 - Valparaiso, Chile
1999 - Los Angeles, California
1998 - Hong Kong, China
1997 - Paris, France
1996 - Wingate, Israel
1995 - Malaga, Spain
1994 - Canberra, Australia
1993 - Rome, Italy
1992 - Jyväskylä, Finland
1991 - Beijing, China
1990 - Vienna, Austria
1989 - Arnhem, The Netherlands

See the Publications section for Minutes of the more recent Annual Meetings.