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 2026-09-23T16:14:11Z in 0.205 seconds.

total:
297698
page:
0
size:
10
items:

10 results

  1. id:
    34706581034f64166ca4597cb5fce71f
    urn:
    not reported by source
    title:
    Vi på Hvaler : nyhetsbulletin fo Hvaler kommune
    creators:

    1 results

    1. Hvaler
    year:
    20010101
    publisher:
    Hvaler kommune
    media_types:

    1 results

    1. tidsskrift
    languages:

    1 results

    1. nob
    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/34706581034f64166ca4597cb5fce71f
  2. id:
    c3842f4e8448812f6e31289c5006e88c
    urn:
    not reported by source
    title:
    Kommuneplanens arealdel, øst : 2004-2015 Hvaler kommune
    creators:

    1 results

    1. Hvaler
    year:
    2004
    publisher:
    Kommunen
    media_types:

    1 results

    1. kart
    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/c3842f4e8448812f6e31289c5006e88c
  3. id:
    fe9f8d788ea3c3c7a9a7008ecd69a9e5
    urn:
    not reported by source
    title:
    Kommuneplanens arealdel, vest : 2004-2015 Hvaler kommune
    creators:

    1 results

    1. Hvaler
    year:
    2004
    publisher:
    Kommunen
    media_types:

    1 results

    1. kart
    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/fe9f8d788ea3c3c7a9a7008ecd69a9e5
  4. id:
    6010209a74a0605627cf8a222ace3ca4
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2023012083109_001
    title:
    Hvaler menighetsblad. 2022 Vol. 75 Nr. 4
    creators:

    1 results

    1. Hvaler menighetsråd
    year:
    2022
    publisher:
    Hvaler menighetsråd
    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_2023012083109_001_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/6010209a74a0605627cf8a222ace3ca4
  5. id:
    6377437ead9f530dbedfd198d1a77ffc
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2023062883097_001
    title:
    Hvaler menighetsblad. 2023 Vol. 76 Nr. 2
    creators:

    1 results

    1. Hvaler menighetsråd
    year:
    2023
    publisher:
    Hvaler menighetsråd
    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_2023062883097_001_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/6377437ead9f530dbedfd198d1a77ffc
  6. id:
    001e3e15dfca2fc6778178e60512c623
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_plikttidsskrift_7dffc51b-b6ad-4577-9ab9-b45bb38aa5dc
    title:
    Hvaler menighetsblad. 2023 Vol. 76 Nr. 2
    creators:

    1 results

    1. Hvaler menighetsråd
    year:
    2023
    publisher:
    Hvaler menighetsråd
    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_7dffc51b-b6ad-4577-9ab9-b45bb38aa5dc_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/001e3e15dfca2fc6778178e60512c623
  7. id:
    c02d6466e6e32d2aca51cd62a35dad75
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2024103083057_001
    title:
    Hvaler menighetsblad. 2024 Vol. 77 Nr. 3
    creators:

    1 results

    1. Hvaler menighetsråd
    year:
    2024
    publisher:
    Hvaler menighetsråd
    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_2024103083057_001_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/c02d6466e6e32d2aca51cd62a35dad75
  8. id:
    9ec578d7ba6426d7ec61b459f50da5e0
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2024011183188_001
    title:
    Hvaler menighetsblad. 2023 Vol. 76 Nr. 4
    creators:

    1 results

    1. Hvaler menighetsråd
    year:
    2023
    publisher:
    Hvaler menighetsråd
    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_2024011183188_001_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/9ec578d7ba6426d7ec61b459f50da5e0
  9. id:
    6e99ca67062a69e1cf073a4ae38d63a8
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2022100483436_001
    title:
    Hvaler menighetsblad. 2022 Vol. 75 Nr. 3
    creators:

    1 results

    1. Hvaler menighetsråd
    year:
    2022
    publisher:
    Hvaler menighetsråd
    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_2022100483436_001_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/6e99ca67062a69e1cf073a4ae38d63a8
  10. id:
    df39d42ebd8fcceebbb37d7f7ba32c02
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2022080583044_001
    title:
    Hvaler menighetsblad. 2022 Vol. 75 Nr. 2
    creators:

    1 results

    1. Hvaler menighetsråd
    year:
    2022
    publisher:
    Hvaler menighetsråd
    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_2022080583044_001_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/df39d42ebd8fcceebbb37d7f7ba32c02
limit:
25
offset:
0
returned:
10
has_more_results:
yes
truncated:
yes
next_offset:
10
Will you use the result in generated code?

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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.