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 2026-09-26T11:47:26Z in 0.239 seconds.

total:

360404

page:

size:

items:

10 results

id:
11d021ae59c32cef22ed376b4bf09e34
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2017040648020
title:
Total quality control in food industry : summary report : project 93141 Total Quality Control
creators:
1 results
1. Total Quality Control (prosjekt)
year:
1997
publisher:
Nordic Industrial Fund
media_types:
1 results
1. bøker
languages:
1 results
1. eng
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_2017040648020_C1/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/11d021ae59c32cef22ed376b4bf09e34
id:
14d8f908c6c3ea2bab5a33cc1f58da27
urn:
not reported by source
title:
(Crime control as industry)
creators:
1 results
1. Christie, Nils
year:
1990
publisher:
Companhia Editora Forense
media_types:
1 results
1. bøker
languages:
1 results
1. und
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/14d8f908c6c3ea2bab5a33cc1f58da27
id:
11abce0b15dcee800d040429edd12bb2
urn:
not reported by source
title:
Malaysia : ownership as control
creators:
1 results
1. Wang Lay Kim
year:
1998
publisher:
not reported by source
media_types:
1 results
1. artikler
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/11abce0b15dcee800d040429edd12bb2
id:
9bbcacfc1c0eaaa4699edca2a39b5e10
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2016100409052
title:
Arms control as defense policy
creators:
1 results
1. Holst, Johan Jørgen
year:
1981
publisher:
[Norsk utenrikspolitisk inst.]
media_types:
1 results
1. bøker
languages:
1 results
1. eng
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_2016100409052_C1/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/9bbcacfc1c0eaaa4699edca2a39b5e10
id:
571c48593710ee54c0086608885db2cd
urn:
not reported by source
title:
Arms control as defense policy
creators:
1 results
1. Holst, Johan Jørgen
year:
19810101
publisher:
[Norsk utenrikspolitisk inst.]
media_types:
1 results
1. bøker
languages:
1 results
1. eng
county:
not reported by source
digital:
no
public_domain:
no
license:
copyrighted
viewability:
ALL
access_allowed_from:
EVERYWHERE
thumbnail:
not reported by source
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/571c48593710ee54c0086608885db2cd
id:
c77b8abf61b1d7385a86c96a3ed9db89
urn:
not reported by source
title:
Social control as sociological concept
creators:
1 results
1. Segerstedt, Torgny
year:
1948
publisher:
not reported by source
media_types:
1 results
1. bøker
languages:
1 results
1. swe
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/c77b8abf61b1d7385a86c96a3ed9db89
id:
1219c4925a5081016dc10946e99f47b5
urn:
not reported by source
title:
Malaria control as part of primary health care : report of a WHO Study Group
creators:
1 results
1. WHO Study Group on Malaria Control as a Part of Primary Health Care
year:
1984
publisher:
World Health Organization
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/1219c4925a5081016dc10946e99f47b5
id:
17852cab31ea9383819184b42e037740
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2025111048109
title:
A history of medical biochemistry, medical laboratory quality control and the pioneering company SERO AS
creators:
1 results
1. SERO AS
year:
2024
publisher:
SERO AS
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_2025111048109_C1/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/17852cab31ea9383819184b42e037740
id:
f9f3910d64d63084ee500bd3fcfbded6
urn:
not reported by source
title:
Crime control as industry : towards gulags, Western style
creators:
1 results
1. Christie, Nils
year:
2001
publisher:
Shinzansha
media_types:
1 results
1. bøker
languages:
1 results
1. jpn
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/f9f3910d64d63084ee500bd3fcfbded6
id:
a10ec7d4402bee453540650777e353ed
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2007083004024
title:
Proceedings of The Workshop on Health and Environmental Impacts of Alternative Control Agents for Desert Locust Control, 14-17 January, 1990, Oslo, Norway
creators:
1 results
1. Workshop on Health and Environmental Impacts of Alternative Control Agents for Desert Locust Control
year:
1990
publisher:
Norwegian Centre for International Agricultural Development
media_types:
1 results
1. bøker
languages:
1 results
1. eng
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_2007083004024_C1/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/a10ec7d4402bee453540650777e353ed

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.