search

Search the National Library's catalog - books, newspapers, journals, photos, maps, music, manuscripts, radio/TV and more, both physical and digitized. Digitized text (OCR) is matched too by default, so a query can surface newspaper or book pages that mention a term even when it's not in the title.

Signature: search(q: string, required; media_type: string, optional, default None; language: string, optional, default None; county: string, optional, default None; year_from: integer, optional, default None; year_to: integer, optional, default None; digital_only: yes/no, optional, default False; sort: string, optional, default None; page: integer, optional, default 0; size: integer, optional, default 10; limit: integer, items, optional, default 25; offset: integer, items, optional, default 0)

Direct GET

For navigating agents: open the HTML page with parameters in the URL. The result is fetched and displayed without screenshots or form filling.

Open this validated HTML GET URL

https://allemannsdata.com/wiki/kilder/nasjonalbiblioteket/search/?q={q}&media_type={media_type}&language={language}&county={county}&year_from={year_from}&year_to={year_to}&digital_only=false&sort={sort}&page=0&size=10&limit=25&offset=0

Replace {q}, {media_type}, {language}, {county}, {year_from}, {year_to}, {digital_only}, {sort}, {page}, {size} with values. Remove unused optional parameters from the URL.

For software and dashboards: Read the operation descriptor. The JSON GET template is https://allemannsdata.com/wiki/api/v1/kilder/nasjonalbiblioteket/search?q={q}&media_type={media_type}&language={language}&county={county}&year_from={year_from}&year_to={year_to}&digital_only=false&sort={sort}&page=0&size=10&limit=25&offset=0. Open this exact request as JSON.

ParameterRequirementJSON typeDescription
qrequiredstringFree-text query. Supports field-restricted terms too, e.g. "subject:fiske year:1970" combined with free text.
media_typeoptionalunionRestrict to one type, e.g. aviser (newspapers), bøker (books), tidsskrift (journals), bilder (photos), musikk, kart (maps), film, plakater (posters), noter (sheet music), radio, fjernsyn. See get_aggregations(q="*", group_by="mediatype") for the full list with counts.
languageoptionalunionLanguage filter - values are inconsistent in the catalog (mixes codes like "nob" and labels like "Norsk bokmål"); check get_aggregations(q=q, group_by="languages") first if unsure.
countyoptionalunionNorwegian county name, e.g. "Troms", "Oslo".
year_fromoptionalunionRestrict to items published/issued in this year range (inclusive).
year_tooptionalunionRestrict to items published/issued in this year range (inclusive).
digital_onlyoptionalbooleanOnly items that have been digitized.
sortoptionalunionOne of date, title, otherid, firstDigitalContentTime, optionally suffixed ",desc" (default: relevance).
pageoptionalintegerZero-based page index.
sizeoptionalintegerResults per page, 1 to 100 (default 10).
limitoptionalintegerGateway page size; default 25, maximum 100.
offsetoptionalintegerNumber of list items to skip; default 0.
Generated JavaScript, Python and response structure

Use JSON when the user requests code, machine-readable data, value extraction or further computation. Use the HTML GET page to identify the correct source and verify parameters.

Example for generated JavaScript and Python

https://allemannsdata.com/wiki/api/v1/kilder/nasjonalbiblioteket/search?q={q}&media_type={media_type}&language={language}&county={county}&year_from={year_from}&year_to={year_to}&digital_only=false&sort={sort}&page=0&size=10&limit=25&offset=0

Replace URL placeholders and remove unused optional parameters.

JavaScript in a dashboard

const url = "https://allemannsdata.com/wiki/api/v1/kilder/nasjonalbiblioteket/search?q={q}&media_type={media_type}&language={language}&county={county}&year_from={year_from}&year_to={year_to}&digital_only=false&sort={sort}&page=0&size=10&limit=25&offset=0";
const response = await fetch(url);
if (!response.ok) {
  const failure = await response.json();
  throw new Error(`${failure.error.code}: ${failure.error.message} ${failure.suggestion}`);
}
const result = await response.json();
const data = result.data;

Python without additional packages

import json
from urllib.request import urlopen

url = "https://allemannsdata.com/wiki/api/v1/kilder/nasjonalbiblioteket/search?q={q}&media_type={media_type}&language={language}&county={county}&year_from={year_from}&year_to={year_to}&digital_only=false&sort={sort}&page=0&size=10&limit=25&offset=0"
with urlopen(url) as response:
    result = json.load(response)
data = result["data"]

Response structure

{
  "source": "nasjonalbiblioteket",
  "operation": "search",
  "parameters": {},
  "data": {},
  "entities": [],
  "_meta": {"retrieved_at": "...", "sources": [], "cache": {}},
  "_links": {"self": "...", "source": "...", "wiki": "...", "feedback": "..."}
}
Form for manual use

The form is a fallback for people and browser agents that cannot open the GET URL directly.

Type: string. Free-text query. Supports field-restricted terms too, e.g. "subject:fiske year:1970" combined with free text.
Type: string. Restrict to one type, e.g. aviser (newspapers), bøker (books), tidsskrift (journals), bilder (photos), musikk, kart (maps), film, plakater (posters), noter (sheet music), radio, fjernsyn. See get_aggregations(q="*", group_by="mediatype") for the full list with counts.
Type: string. Language filter - values are inconsistent in the catalog (mixes codes like "nob" and labels like "Norsk bokmål"); check get_aggregations(q=q, group_by="languages") first if unsure.
Type: string. Norwegian county name, e.g. "Troms", "Oslo".
Type: integer. Restrict to items published/issued in this year range (inclusive).
Type: integer. Restrict to items published/issued in this year range (inclusive).
Type: yes/no. Only items that have been digitized.
Type: string. One of date, title, otherid, firstDigitalContentTime, optionally suffixed ",desc" (default: relevance).
Type: integer. Zero-based page index.
Type: integer. Results per page, 1 to 100 (default 10).

Result

Source: National Library of Norway. Retrieved 2026-09-27T09:08:24Z in 0.185 seconds.

total:
154
page:
0
size:
10
items:

10 results

  1. id:
    c4285544115440ca2b8f9ecbfa99e901
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2022111683304_001
    title:
    HMS-magasinet : bladet for godt arbeidsmiljø. 2022 Nr. 5
    creators:
    not reported by source
    year:
    2022
    publisher:
    Ask media
    media_types:

    1 results

    1. tidsskrift
    languages:

    1 results

    1. nob
    county:
    not reported by source
    digital:
    yes
    public_domain:
    no
    license:
    copyrighted
    viewability:
    NONE
    access_allowed_from:
    NB
    thumbnail:
    https://www.nb.no/services/image/resolver/URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2022111683304_001_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/c4285544115440ca2b8f9ecbfa99e901
  2. id:
    7b3a9c5c29e03db4cfba45876f90a00c
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2023020283009_001
    title:
    HMS-magasinet : bladet for godt arbeidsmiljø. 2022 Nr. 6
    creators:
    not reported by source
    year:
    2022
    publisher:
    Ask media
    media_types:

    1 results

    1. tidsskrift
    languages:

    1 results

    1. nob
    county:
    not reported by source
    digital:
    yes
    public_domain:
    no
    license:
    copyrighted
    viewability:
    NONE
    access_allowed_from:
    NB
    thumbnail:
    https://www.nb.no/services/image/resolver/URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2023020283009_001_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/7b3a9c5c29e03db4cfba45876f90a00c
  3. id:
    be58d580db8e82565433689c3a600678
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_plikttidsskrift_e97ad1e0-4ef8-4439-bad9-e8aeb630fa7e
    title:
    HMS-magasinet : bladet for godt arbeidsmiljø. 2024 Nr. 1
    creators:
    not reported by source
    year:
    2024
    publisher:
    Ask media
    media_types:

    1 results

    1. tidsskrift
    languages:

    1 results

    1. nob
    county:
    not reported by source
    digital:
    yes
    public_domain:
    no
    license:
    copyrighted
    viewability:
    NONE
    access_allowed_from:
    NB
    thumbnail:
    https://www.nb.no/services/image/resolver/URN:NBN:no-nb_plikttidsskrift_e97ad1e0-4ef8-4439-bad9-e8aeb630fa7e_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/be58d580db8e82565433689c3a600678
  4. id:
    7ebd771ba14115aa0db366c015c5a118
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_plikttidsskrift_c630ac48-bf52-4610-a570-13af637457ff
    title:
    HMS-magasinet : bladet for godt arbeidsmiljø. 2026 Nr. 2
    creators:
    not reported by source
    year:
    2026
    publisher:
    Ask media
    media_types:

    1 results

    1. tidsskrift
    languages:

    1 results

    1. nob
    county:
    not reported by source
    digital:
    yes
    public_domain:
    no
    license:
    copyrighted
    viewability:
    NONE
    access_allowed_from:
    NB
    thumbnail:
    https://www.nb.no/services/image/resolver/URN:NBN:no-nb_plikttidsskrift_c630ac48-bf52-4610-a570-13af637457ff_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/7ebd771ba14115aa0db366c015c5a118
  5. id:
    da1f06384c9f510279495edbe302ae5d
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_plikttidsskrift_ade82c7f-c50d-45fa-a90b-e7433d42362f
    title:
    HMS-magasinet : bladet for godt arbeidsmiljø. 2025 Nr. 1
    creators:
    not reported by source
    year:
    2025
    publisher:
    Ask media
    media_types:

    1 results

    1. tidsskrift
    languages:

    1 results

    1. nob
    county:
    not reported by source
    digital:
    yes
    public_domain:
    no
    license:
    copyrighted
    viewability:
    NONE
    access_allowed_from:
    NB
    thumbnail:
    https://www.nb.no/services/image/resolver/URN:NBN:no-nb_plikttidsskrift_ade82c7f-c50d-45fa-a90b-e7433d42362f_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/da1f06384c9f510279495edbe302ae5d
  6. id:
    ebe501e3c1a90a3ab394c97ae5ece40d
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2022060280057_001
    title:
    HMS-magasinet : bladet for godt arbeidsmiljø. 2022 Nr. 2
    creators:
    not reported by source
    year:
    2022
    publisher:
    Ask media
    media_types:

    1 results

    1. tidsskrift
    languages:

    1 results

    1. nob
    county:
    not reported by source
    digital:
    yes
    public_domain:
    no
    license:
    copyrighted
    viewability:
    NONE
    access_allowed_from:
    NB
    thumbnail:
    https://www.nb.no/services/image/resolver/URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2022060280057_001_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/ebe501e3c1a90a3ab394c97ae5ece40d
  7. id:
    5da0db4d0e151dfef9d24b49a327a11f
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2023061383040_001
    title:
    HMS-magasinet : bladet for godt arbeidsmiljø. 2023 Nr. 2
    creators:
    not reported by source
    year:
    2023
    publisher:
    Ask media
    media_types:

    1 results

    1. tidsskrift
    languages:

    1 results

    1. nob
    county:
    not reported by source
    digital:
    yes
    public_domain:
    no
    license:
    copyrighted
    viewability:
    NONE
    access_allowed_from:
    NB
    thumbnail:
    https://www.nb.no/services/image/resolver/URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2023061383040_001_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/5da0db4d0e151dfef9d24b49a327a11f
  8. id:
    826c354a1b0afe68563285da9419596c
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_plikttidsskrift_654017e8-6a79-46bc-b445-96b639521b8b
    title:
    HMS-magasinet : bladet for godt arbeidsmiljø. 2024 Nr. 5
    creators:
    not reported by source
    year:
    2024
    publisher:
    Ask media
    media_types:

    1 results

    1. tidsskrift
    languages:

    1 results

    1. nob
    county:
    not reported by source
    digital:
    yes
    public_domain:
    no
    license:
    copyrighted
    viewability:
    NONE
    access_allowed_from:
    NB
    thumbnail:
    https://www.nb.no/services/image/resolver/URN:NBN:no-nb_plikttidsskrift_654017e8-6a79-46bc-b445-96b639521b8b_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/826c354a1b0afe68563285da9419596c
  9. id:
    d330283de516b8bce172bd5491750e63
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_plikttidsskrift_4ea540a8-7985-4311-a5fb-c037f07ecdc0
    title:
    HMS-magasinet : bladet for godt arbeidsmiljø. 2024 Nr. 6
    creators:
    not reported by source
    year:
    2024
    publisher:
    Ask media
    media_types:

    1 results

    1. tidsskrift
    languages:

    1 results

    1. nob
    county:
    not reported by source
    digital:
    yes
    public_domain:
    no
    license:
    copyrighted
    viewability:
    NONE
    access_allowed_from:
    NB
    thumbnail:
    https://www.nb.no/services/image/resolver/URN:NBN:no-nb_plikttidsskrift_4ea540a8-7985-4311-a5fb-c037f07ecdc0_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/d330283de516b8bce172bd5491750e63
  10. id:
    45284dcebbe754cebd68072653d30773
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_plikttidsskrift_c8faf0dc-ac96-48e9-b44d-a330ffea19bf
    title:
    HMS-magasinet : bladet for godt arbeidsmiljø. 2024 Nr. 3
    creators:
    not reported by source
    year:
    2024
    publisher:
    Ask media
    media_types:

    1 results

    1. tidsskrift
    languages:

    1 results

    1. nob
    county:
    not reported by source
    digital:
    yes
    public_domain:
    no
    license:
    copyrighted
    viewability:
    NONE
    access_allowed_from:
    NB
    thumbnail:
    https://www.nb.no/services/image/resolver/URN:NBN:no-nb_plikttidsskrift_c8faf0dc-ac96-48e9-b44d-a330ffea19bf_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/45284dcebbe754cebd68072653d30773
limit:
25
offset:
0
returned:
10
has_more_results:
yes
truncated:
yes
next_offset:
10
Will you use the result in generated code?

Open the same result as JSON

Is data missing or incorrect? Send feedback about this result.

Continue exploring

How an AI agent should use this page

Ground rule: Navigate with HTML GET links to keep explanations and relationships. Use the page's JSON alternative only when concrete values must be extracted, compared or computed.

How to use the search lookup

  1. Replace the placeholders in the HTML GET template; remove optional parameters you do not need.
  2. Check types, units, limits and ID formats in the parameter table.
  3. Follow linked results to canonical pages before combining sources.

Misreading to avoid: An empty list means "no results for this lookup". An error message or unavailable source does not mean the data does not exist.

Source-specific next step

Go to the source page for other operations. Use the JSON template only after the HTML result shows that the parameters and source are correct.