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 2026-09-27T12:22:34Z in 0.198 seconds.

total:

49091

page:

size:

items:

10 results

id:
bf176b6724ae2a35c00801c6fd359a28
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2011031403003
title:
Anne Bamle og Øst-Telemarksbunaden : et livsverk
creators:
3 results
1. Wagn, Anne Haugen
2. Nordby, Guro
3. Bamle, Anne
year:
2002
publisher:
[A.H. Wagn]
media_types:
1 results
1. bøker
languages:
1 results
1. nob
county:
not reported by source
digital:
yes
public_domain:
no
license:
bokhylla
viewability:
NONE
access_allowed_from:
NORWAY
thumbnail:
https://www.nb.no/services/image/resolver/URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2011031403003_C1/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/bf176b6724ae2a35c00801c6fd359a28
id:
86ecfa81cff24ae4959a44b485f7d0f5
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2018031609588
title:
Potensialet for murestein i Bamle og Kragerø kommuner
creators:
1 results
1. Bjerkgård, Terje
year:
2008
publisher:
Norges geologiske undersøkelse
media_types:
1 results
1. bøker
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_digibok_2018031609588_C1/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/86ecfa81cff24ae4959a44b485f7d0f5
id:
3fd1bbc89bcf9d4bbe52a2612df51d5c
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digifoto_20180912_00110_digiplakat_2013090560026_f
title:
Nammisbrød : brød som smaker nam : laget for barnehager og SFO i Bamle kommune
creators:
not reported by source
year:
2012
publisher:
not reported by source
media_types:
1 results
1. plakater
languages:
No results.
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_digifoto_20180912_00110_digiplakat_2013090560026_f/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/3fd1bbc89bcf9d4bbe52a2612df51d5c
id:
53a90eebe2318d5a4d4c4f95eb46ee5b
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2011011808081
title:
Kjemisk/biologisk karakterisering av avløpsvann fra Statoil petrokjemi, Bamle
creators:
1 results
1. Källqvist, Torsten
year:
1991
publisher:
Norsk institutt for vannforskning
media_types:
1 results
1. bøker
languages:
1 results
1. nob
county:
not reported by source
digital:
yes
public_domain:
no
license:
bokhylla
viewability:
NONE
access_allowed_from:
NORWAY
thumbnail:
https://www.nb.no/services/image/resolver/URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2011011808081_C1/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/53a90eebe2318d5a4d4c4f95eb46ee5b
id:
ce6385fcea8000b9cc9960f50baa02d4
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2007121200029
title:
Fra Bamle Automobil-Aktieselskab til Ødegaardens Bilrutera.s : 1909-1994
creators:
3 results
1. Arntzen, Finn Arild
2. Arntzen, Finn A.
3. Ødegaardens bilruter
year:
1994
publisher:
[Ødegaardens bilruter]
media_types:
1 results
1. bøker
languages:
1 results
1. nob
county:
not reported by source
digital:
yes
public_domain:
no
license:
bokhylla
viewability:
NONE
access_allowed_from:
NORWAY
thumbnail:
https://www.nb.no/services/image/resolver/URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2007121200029_C1/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/ce6385fcea8000b9cc9960f50baa02d4
id:
04401e1da75bc4ba9e1f1b9df50a98f5
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2021060448512
title:
Krigens hverdag : om begivenheter og forhold i Bamle, Langesund og Stathelle 1940/45
creators:
3 results
1. Nenseth, Anders
2. Sem, Gunnar
3. Bamble historielag
year:
1985
publisher:
Historielaget
media_types:
1 results
1. bøker
languages:
1 results
1. nob
county:
not reported by source
digital:
yes
public_domain:
no
license:
bokhylla
viewability:
NONE
access_allowed_from:
NORWAY
thumbnail:
https://www.nb.no/services/image/resolver/URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2021060448512_C1/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/04401e1da75bc4ba9e1f1b9df50a98f5
id:
05a5531d419394364add0e91f0778f82
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2019112807007
title:
Bamble kommune 50 år
creators:
2 results
1. Bamble
2. Dahl, Tor
year:
2014
publisher:
Bamble kommune
media_types:
1 results
1. bøker
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_digibok_2019112807007_C1/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/05a5531d419394364add0e91f0778f82
id:
259967a279a40b1a037675bb9439c20c
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2015060108007
title:
Regionplan for Vestmar, Kragerø og Drangedal kommuner 1968
creators:
1 results
1. Regionplanrådet for Vestmar kommune
year:
1968
publisher:
[s.n.]
media_types:
1 results
1. bøker
languages:
1 results
1. nob
county:
not reported by source
digital:
yes
public_domain:
no
license:
bokhylla
viewability:
NONE
access_allowed_from:
NORWAY
thumbnail:
https://www.nb.no/services/image/resolver/URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2015060108007_C1/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/259967a279a40b1a037675bb9439c20c
id:
035b83eaf3f7e8dd4921bee4aa5dafe7
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2006121201061
title:
Beretning om Kristiania kommune for aarene 1887-1911
creators:
1 results
1. Kristiania
year:
1914
publisher:
J. Chr. Gundersens boktr.
media_types:
1 results
1. bøker
languages:
1 results
1. nob
county:
Oslo
digital:
yes
public_domain:
yes
license:
publicdomain
viewability:
ALL
access_allowed_from:
EVERYWHERE
thumbnail:
https://www.nb.no/services/image/resolver/URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2006121201061_C1/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/035b83eaf3f7e8dd4921bee4aa5dafe7
id:
2cc82ca3d798cdf6dc37aae26b3c7a54
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2008071100012
title:
Folketellingen 3.12.1900 for 136 Rygge kommune
creators:
1 results
1. Teleslekt (prosjekt)
year:
1996
publisher:
Teleslekt
media_types:
1 results
1. bøker
languages:
1 results
1. nob
county:
not reported by source
digital:
yes
public_domain:
yes
license:
publicdomain
viewability:
ALL
access_allowed_from:
EVERYWHERE
thumbnail:
https://www.nb.no/services/image/resolver/URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2008071100012_C1/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/2cc82ca3d798cdf6dc37aae26b3c7a54

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.