Obituary: Lars Gaustad, a Pioneer in Digital Preservation in Norway

It is with great sadness that we received the news that Lars Gaustad passed away on May 22. He was 73 years old.

Lars worked at the National Library of Norway for more than 30 years in a variety of roles, serving both as a senior advisor and in several leadership positions.

Lars was a pioneer in the preservation of audiovisual materials in Norway. He was also a prominent voice in international professional forums within the field. The International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA) even established a dedicated professional award, “The Lars Gaustad Award”, which is presented annually in his honor. He also served for many years as an Associate Professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Architecture, Design and Conservation.

For those of us working in digital preservation at the National Library, he was a great role model. Lars was among the first to recognize digital preservation as a distinct professional discipline. As early as 2002, he introduced the OAIS model and the concept of Trusted Repositories to the organization. He played a key role in numerous international collaborative projects related to the digital preservation of audiovisual materials. Among other contributions, Lars represented the National Library in the LongRec project. LongRec (Records Management over Decades) was a four-year Norwegian research project focused on the persistent and reliable long-term preservation of digital records.

Lars was among the first to appreciate that digitization served a dual purpose: enabling new forms of access and dissemination while ensuring the long-term preservation of analogue collections.

Thank you, Lars. We will strive to honor your legacy by carrying forward your vision and dedication, ensuring that the digital treasures of the National Library’s collections remain accessible for generations to come.