Minutes of British & Irish Sound Archives (BISA) Annual General
Meeting held on 17 November 2017 at the National Library of Scotland
1. Receive minutes of the previous Annual General Meeting held on 18 November 2016 at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum
The minutes were accepted as a true record and were signed as such by Jonathan Draper (JD).
2. Committee members’ reports
Convenor
In the absence of a Convenor, JD thanked the National Library of Scotland for hosting the BISA event and Alistair Bell, Cathlin Macaulay and Amy McDonald for their help in organising the event. JD also thanked all those who delivered papers and provided posters.
JD summarised the aims and activities of BISA as follows.
• BISA was established in 2006 and the general consensus among those who work or
have an interest in sound archives is that it should continue its activities.
• It is a branch member of the International Association of Sound and Audiovisual
Archives (IASA).
• Its main activity is an annual conference which lasts one and a half days at various
venues around the geographical area covered by BISA.
• BISA’s conference comprises papers, and from this year posters, relating to all
aspects of sound archives as well as network opportunities.
• BISA’s committee are effectively an organising committee for the annual event.
• Most of BISA’s business is done via its JISCmail list (https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgibin/
webadmin?A0=BISA) or its website (http://www.bisa-web.org/).
Secretary
Jonathan Draper (JD) explained that BISA was set up to have a membership and that
members were able to pay a reduced rate for BISA’s annual conference. JD proposed that now that BISA aimed to keep conference costs to a minimum for all attendees, there was no longer a need to maintain a formal membership. Doing away with a formal membership would also minimise administrative requirements and aid compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which comes into force in May 2018.
The proposal to remove a formal BISA membership was accepted.
Treasurer
Alison Smith (AS) stated that prior to the 2017 conference, the balance in BISA’s account was £2,364.82.
Webmaster
Richard Ranft (RR) encouraged everyone to use and populate the directory of sound
resources.
Listowner
Will Prentice (WP) reported that membership of BISA’s JISCmail discussion list remains at approximately 150. He also encouraged everyone to use it.
3. Committee elections
The BISA committee encouraged nominations for the post of Convenor and Secretary. None were forthcoming prior to, or at the meeting.
Post-meeting note
Following the AGM, Grace Toland of the Irish Traditional Music Archive and existing nonportfolio member of BISA’s committee approached the BISA committee and offered to become Convenor. Knowing that Grace would bring both great ability and enthusiasm to the role, and in the absence of any other offers, the remaining members of BISA’s committee accepted Grace’s kind offer.
4. Next BISA conference
Offers to host BISA’s 2018 conference were invited.
Post-meeting note
The BISA Committee received an offer to host BISA’s conference at the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth with a provisional date of Friday, 16 November and Saturday, 17 November 2018. This offer was accepted by the BISA committee.
5. Any Other Items of Business
No items of other business.