IASSIST


The International Association for Social Science Information Service and Technology is an international organisation that provides professional development, communication and conferences for data librarians, archivists, and social science aligned information specialists.
Each year, the IASSIST Fellow program sponsors members from developing nations to attend events and professional development to further the advancement of information management.
WWW Official Site

Conferences

IASSIST organizes an annual conference, typically held in May or June, focusing on data sharing and management, data access and repository tools, metadata for research data, best practices for data preservation, global information resources, new technologies, and professional development. The conference location usually rotates to a different region each year.
YearCountryHost cityRegionHost organisationThemeStart dateEnd date
2026OnlineAllIASSISTIASSIST Virtual Conference 20262026-6-012026-6-05
2025UK

History

IASSIST was formed in 1974. It emerged to manage and increase access to the growing amount of machine-readable social science data. The first IASSIST conference was held in 1977 in Cocoa Beach, Florida
with 29 representatives from Canada and the United States.

Africa Chapter

The IASSIST Africa Chapter is currently the only Regional Chapter of IASSIST. Regional chapters of IASSIST support the expedient and efficient management of IASSIST affairs and activities within their regions. The Africa Chapter was officially launched in 2021 during the first IASSIST Africa Regional Workshop held in Kampala, Uganda. It has members from several African countries and holds an annual regional workshop where members come together to discuss and share emerging trends and issues in IT, research and data services.

IASSIST Quarterly (IQ)

The IASSIST Quarterly is a peer-reviewed, indexed, open access quarterly journal of articles dealing with social science information and data services. IQ represents an international cooperative effort on the part of individuals managing, operating, or using machine-readable data archives, data libraries, and data services. The IQ is published by the IASSIST and hosted by the University of Alberta Libraries.