Archive worker takes password to the grave

Red-faced Norwegian museum curators are looking for computer hackers to help them find the password to their electronic library.

The museum built in honour of Norwegian linguist Ivar Aasen received a gift of more than 1,600 books and documents which had been catalogued and registered in a national data bank, which researchers and interested people may access.

But the worker who set up the archive has since died and taken the password to his grave.

Museum director Ottar Grepstad made a radio appeal for hackers to come forward to help them break into the library and find the missing password.

The Norway Post reported that several hackers have contacted the museum and offered their services and that officials are trying to work out which ones are most likely to succeed.

It is not known why the worker failed to mention his password or leave any record of it before he died, and staff at the museum have apparently given up trying to guess it.