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 2026-09-27T22:17:37Z in 0.240 seconds.

total:

232765

page:

size:

items:

10 results

id:
d7ced3294e21cafc231a9eedfaf1ad1a
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_pliktmusikk_EAN_5054197745997_02_0004
title:
As Far as The Eye Can See : Live
creators:
3 results
1. TNT
2. Harnell, Tony
3. Le Tekrø, Ronni
year:
20230703
publisher:
WM Norway
media_types:
1 results
1. musikk
languages:
1 results
1. eng
county:
not reported by source
digital:
yes
public_domain:
no
license:
copyrighted
viewability:
NONE
access_allowed_from:
NB
thumbnail:
not reported by source
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/d7ced3294e21cafc231a9eedfaf1ad1a
id:
59b191f556c4b3d07701b7fe538870d7
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_pliktmusikk_EAN_7071245071387_01_0001
title:
As Days Go By
creators:
2 results
1. The Evil Eye
2. Dahl, Tomas
year:
20121129
publisher:
Big Day Records
media_types:
1 results
1. musikk
languages:
1 results
1. eng
county:
not reported by source
digital:
yes
public_domain:
no
license:
copyrighted
viewability:
NONE
access_allowed_from:
NB
thumbnail:
not reported by source
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/59b191f556c4b3d07701b7fe538870d7
id:
fc407d3b9723a883b355f94d768f235e
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_pliktmusikk_UPC_602527199788_01_0005
title:
As Far As The Eye Can See
creators:
8 results
1. TNT
2. Black, Morty
3. Dahl, Diesel
4. Harnell, Antony
5. Harnell, Tony
6. Le Tekrø, Ronni
7. Nessjø, Bjørn "Trombone"
8. Tekro, Rolf Agrim
year:
20090824
publisher:
Universal Music AS
media_types:
1 results
1. musikk
languages:
1 results
1. eng
county:
not reported by source
digital:
yes
public_domain:
no
license:
copyrighted
viewability:
NONE
access_allowed_from:
NB
thumbnail:
not reported by source
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/fc407d3b9723a883b355f94d768f235e
id:
b8eb7c828b1d7816692ab98eb895f8dd
urn:
not reported by source
title:
As far as the eye can see
creators:
2 results
1. Harnell, Tony
2. Le Tekrø, Ronni
year:
2014
publisher:
not reported by source
media_types:
1 results
1. musikk
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/b8eb7c828b1d7816692ab98eb895f8dd
id:
fa39504f496adf9940150dab945a01d9
urn:
not reported by source
title:
As far as the eye can see
creators:
7 results
1. Le Tekrø, Ronni
2. TNT (musikkgruppe)
3. Harnell, Tony
4. Kellerer, Bernhard
5. Borge, Victor
6. Dahl, Diesel
7. Stokke, Dag
year:
2006
publisher:
not reported by source
media_types:
1 results
1. musikk
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/fa39504f496adf9940150dab945a01d9
id:
801628838699df61e2d796c41884c9e4
urn:
not reported by source
title:
As far as the eye can see
creators:
2 results
1. Harnell, Tony
2. Le Tekrø, Ronni
year:
1987
publisher:
not reported by source
media_types:
1 results
1. musikk
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/801628838699df61e2d796c41884c9e4
id:
e0122326637520497b0d3300a3a2e4e1
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_pliktmusikk_EAN_7071245071387
title:
As Days Go By
creators:
2 results
1. The Evil Eye
2. Dahl, Tomas
year:
20121129
publisher:
Big Day Records
media_types:
1 results
1. musikk
languages:
1 results
1. und
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_pliktmusikk_EAN_7071245071387_image_001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/e0122326637520497b0d3300a3a2e4e1
id:
736ae005d9b1fc69a73b5a42356a6458
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_pliktmusikk_UPC_194491636784_01_0005
title:
As Far as the Eye Can See : Live
creators:
3 results
1. TNT
2. Hansen, Tommy
3. Trondheim Symphony Orchestra
year:
20140908
publisher:
Indie Recordings
media_types:
1 results
1. musikk
languages:
1 results
1. eng
county:
not reported by source
digital:
yes
public_domain:
no
license:
copyrighted
viewability:
NONE
access_allowed_from:
NB
thumbnail:
not reported by source
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/736ae005d9b1fc69a73b5a42356a6458
id:
1eb213ff0a9374aae48c05807b0363d1
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_pliktmusikk_UPC_196925743938_01_0005
title:
As Far as the Eye Can See : Live
creators:
5 results
1. TNT
2. Hansen, Tommy
3. Harnell, Tony
4. Le Tekrø, Ronni
5. Trondheim Symphony Orchestra
year:
20220916
publisher:
TNT Records
media_types:
1 results
1. musikk
languages:
1 results
1. eng
county:
not reported by source
digital:
yes
public_domain:
no
license:
copyrighted
viewability:
NONE
access_allowed_from:
NB
thumbnail:
not reported by source
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/1eb213ff0a9374aae48c05807b0363d1
id:
622ced6699ae9be87ef2185f79634995
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2023101048122
title:
Eva's eye
creators:
2 results
1. Fossum, Karin
2. Anderson, James
year:
2013
publisher:
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
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_2023101048122_C1/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/622ced6699ae9be87ef2185f79634995

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.