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.

Parameter	Requirement	JSON type	Description
`q`	required	string	Free-text query. Supports field-restricted terms too, e.g. "subject:fiske year:1970" combined with free text.
`media_type`	optional	union	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.
`language`	optional	union	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.
`county`	optional	union	Norwegian county name, e.g. "Troms", "Oslo".
`year_from`	optional	union	Restrict to items published/issued in this year range (inclusive).
`year_to`	optional	union	Restrict to items published/issued in this year range (inclusive).
`digital_only`	optional	boolean	Only items that have been digitized.
`sort`	optional	union	One of date, title, otherid, firstDigitalContentTime, optionally suffixed ",desc" (default: relevance).
`page`	optional	integer	Zero-based page index.
`size`	optional	integer	Results per page, 1 to 100 (default 10).
`limit`	optional	integer	Gateway page size; default 25, maximum 100.
`offset`	optional	integer	Number 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.

q (required) Type: string. Free-text query. Supports field-restricted terms too, e.g. "subject:fiske year:1970" combined with free text.

media_type 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.

language 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.

county Type: string. Norwegian county name, e.g. "Troms", "Oslo".

year_from Type: integer. Restrict to items published/issued in this year range (inclusive).

year_to Type: integer. Restrict to items published/issued in this year range (inclusive).

digital_only Type: yes/no. Only items that have been digitized.

sort Type: string. One of date, title, otherid, firstDigitalContentTime, optionally suffixed ",desc" (default: relevance).

page Type: integer. Zero-based page index.

size Type: integer. Results per page, 1 to 100 (default 10).

Result

Source: National Library of Norway. Retrieved 2026-09-23T19:03:17Z in 0.258 seconds.

total:

8818

page:

size:

items:

10 results

id:
60ebb9f2a0755b28f2372a594bf7edee
urn:
not reported by source
title:
Grette DA skal bli best på fisk
creators:
not reported by source
year:
2000
publisher:
not reported by source
media_types:
1 results
1. artikler
languages:
1 results
1. nob
county:
not reported by source
digital:
no
public_domain:
no
license:
copyrighted
viewability:
NONE
access_allowed_from:
NB
thumbnail:
not reported by source
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/60ebb9f2a0755b28f2372a594bf7edee
id:
7436908dd6758373837e373d830d4a1a
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2025111707023
title:
Doing business in Norway
creators:
1 results
1. Advokatfirmaet Grette DA
year:
2016
publisher:
Grette
media_types:
1 results
1. bøker
languages:
1 results
1. eng
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_digibok_2025111707023_C1/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/7436908dd6758373837e373d830d4a1a
id:
be6bba8c7ec46b38b034feea840f5e2d
urn:
not reported by source
title:
Doing business in Norway
creators:
not reported by source
year:
2012
publisher:
Advokatfirmaet Grette
media_types:
1 results
1. bøker
languages:
1 results
1. eng
county:
not reported by source
digital:
no
public_domain:
no
license:
copyrighted
viewability:
NONE
access_allowed_from:
NB
thumbnail:
not reported by source
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/be6bba8c7ec46b38b034feea840f5e2d
id:
eb1add1db246abfe5d4bd82bdf72fb8c
urn:
not reported by source
title:
Doing business in Norway
creators:
1 results
1. Advokatfirmaet Grette DA
year:
2013
publisher:
Advokatfirmaet Grette
media_types:
1 results
1. bøker
languages:
1 results
1. eng
county:
not reported by source
digital:
no
public_domain:
no
license:
copyrighted
viewability:
NONE
access_allowed_from:
NB
thumbnail:
not reported by source
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/eb1add1db246abfe5d4bd82bdf72fb8c
id:
d653f48497cafda9e7aeab7aa21f3bb7
urn:
not reported by source
title:
Doing business in Norway
creators:
1 results
1. Advokatfirmaet Grette DA
year:
2015
publisher:
Advokatfirmaet Grette
media_types:
1 results
1. bøker
languages:
1 results
1. eng
county:
not reported by source
digital:
no
public_domain:
no
license:
copyrighted
viewability:
NONE
access_allowed_from:
NB
thumbnail:
not reported by source
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/d653f48497cafda9e7aeab7aa21f3bb7
id:
db6af4894d2aa37a3ff70155003302c4
urn:
not reported by source
title:
Doing business in Norway
creators:
1 results
1. Advokatfirmaet Grette DA
year:
2014
publisher:
Advokatfirmaet Grette
media_types:
1 results
1. bøker
languages:
1 results
1. eng
county:
not reported by source
digital:
no
public_domain:
no
license:
copyrighted
viewability:
NONE
access_allowed_from:
NB
thumbnail:
not reported by source
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/db6af4894d2aa37a3ff70155003302c4
id:
52f9e3209e7ddab65b326cbd2c57b6eb
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2025121907065
title:
Doing business in Norway
creators:
2 results
1. Mörsdorf, Roland
2. Advokatfirmaet Grette DA
year:
2019
publisher:
Grette
media_types:
1 results
1. bøker
languages:
1 results
1. eng
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_digibok_2025121907065_C1/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/52f9e3209e7ddab65b326cbd2c57b6eb
id:
3a01bb6b75fd7e31f6053d5d010dce1f
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2026020907504
title:
Doing business in Norway
creators:
2 results
1. Mörsdorf, Roland
2. Advokatfirmaet Grette DA
year:
2017
publisher:
Grette
media_types:
1 results
1. bøker
languages:
1 results
1. eng
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_digibok_2026020907504_C1/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/3a01bb6b75fd7e31f6053d5d010dce1f
id:
054425451d57a9387afac912895828f6
urn:
not reported by source
title:
Doing business in Norway
creators:
2 results
1. Mörsdorf, Roland
2. Advokatfirmaet Grette DA
year:
2018
publisher:
Grette
media_types:
1 results
1. bøker
languages:
1 results
1. eng
county:
not reported by source
digital:
no
public_domain:
no
license:
copyrighted
viewability:
NONE
access_allowed_from:
NB
thumbnail:
not reported by source
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/054425451d57a9387afac912895828f6
id:
c01442e0bb57e7ece7091f6fa049db4d
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2024030580025_001
title:
Føyen Torkildsen : kundemagasin. 2015
creators:
1 results
1. Advokatfirmaet Føyen Torkildsen
year:
2015
publisher:
Advokatfirmaet Føyen Torkildsen
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_2024030580025_001_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/c01442e0bb57e7ece7091f6fa049db4d

limit:

offset:

returned:

has_more_results:

yes

truncated:

yes

next_offset:

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

Replace the placeholders in the HTML GET template; remove optional parameters you do not need.
Check types, units, limits and ID formats in the parameter table.
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.

AI agent? Read the complete navigation and programming guide.