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 2026-10-28T15:46:07Z in 0.368 seconds.

total:
12
page:
0
size:
25
items:

12 results

  1. id:
    9e59b8c290180fa53675e84a65820547
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2026022680108_004
    title:
    Birkebeiner'n : offisielt magasin for Birkebeinerrennet AS og Birkebeinerrittet AS. 2003 Vol. 15 Nr. 4
    creators:

    2 results

    1. Birkebeinerrittet
    2. Birkebeinerrennet
    year:
    2003
    publisher:
    Sport media
    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_2026022680108_004_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/9e59b8c290180fa53675e84a65820547
  2. id:
    410e22fbe51244d80737a9d17ad7a56f
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2026022680107_004
    title:
    Birkebeiner'n : offisielt magasin for Birkebeinerrennet AS og Birkebeinerrittet AS. 2004 Vol. 14 Nr. 4
    creators:

    2 results

    1. Birkebeinerrittet
    2. Birkebeinerrennet
    year:
    2004
    publisher:
    Sport media
    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_2026022680107_004_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/410e22fbe51244d80737a9d17ad7a56f
  3. id:
    933ed7297d9d4802ced48b93694729e8
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_askerogbaerumsbudstikke_null_null_20020320_104_67_1
    title:
    Asker og Bærums budstikke
    creators:
    not reported by source
    year:
    20020320
    publisher:
    not reported by source
    media_types:

    1 results

    1. aviser
    languages:

    1 results

    1. Norsk bokmål
    county:
    Akershus
    digital:
    yes
    public_domain:
    no
    license:
    ccbyncnd
    viewability:
    ALL
    access_allowed_from:
    EVERYWHERE
    thumbnail:
    https://www.nb.no/services/image/resolver/URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_askerogbaerumsbudstikke_null_null_20020320_104_67_1-1_001_null/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/933ed7297d9d4802ced48b93694729e8
  4. id:
    ef89846646256f282ff5a4b501f586c2
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_askerogbaerumsbudstikke_null_null_20020313_104_61_1
    title:
    Asker og Bærums budstikke
    creators:
    not reported by source
    year:
    20020313
    publisher:
    not reported by source
    media_types:

    1 results

    1. aviser
    languages:

    1 results

    1. Norsk bokmål
    county:
    Akershus
    digital:
    yes
    public_domain:
    no
    license:
    ccbyncnd
    viewability:
    ALL
    access_allowed_from:
    EVERYWHERE
    thumbnail:
    https://www.nb.no/services/image/resolver/URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_askerogbaerumsbudstikke_null_null_20020313_104_61_1-1_001_null/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/ef89846646256f282ff5a4b501f586c2
  5. id:
    be1f102e13e0fdd59fc77b179bdb099b
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_finansavisen_null_null_20040430_13_99_1
    title:
    Finansavisen
    creators:
    not reported by source
    year:
    20040430
    publisher:
    not reported by source
    media_types:

    1 results

    1. aviser
    languages:

    1 results

    1. Norsk bokmål
    county:
    Oslo
    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_digavis_finansavisen_null_null_20040430_13_99_1-1_001_null/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/be1f102e13e0fdd59fc77b179bdb099b
  6. id:
    d142e5d4f587068b044ee8f5439154ad
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_finansavisen_null_null_20050519_14_111_1
    title:
    Finansavisen
    creators:
    not reported by source
    year:
    20050519
    publisher:
    not reported by source
    media_types:

    1 results

    1. aviser
    languages:

    1 results

    1. Norsk bokmål
    county:
    Oslo
    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_digavis_finansavisen_null_null_20050519_14_111_1-1_001_null/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/d142e5d4f587068b044ee8f5439154ad
  7. id:
    82ca6c60ac042a48b1f4188290bc0d7c
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_finansavisen_null_null_20060621_15_139_1
    title:
    Finansavisen
    creators:
    not reported by source
    year:
    20060621
    publisher:
    not reported by source
    media_types:

    1 results

    1. aviser
    languages:

    1 results

    1. Norsk bokmål
    county:
    Oslo
    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_digavis_finansavisen_null_null_20060621_15_139_1-1_001_null/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/82ca6c60ac042a48b1f4188290bc0d7c
  8. id:
    e4ab866f2c9a02fe6bae40d1aa2cfd68
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_finansavisen_null_null_20060602_15_124_1
    title:
    Finansavisen
    creators:
    not reported by source
    year:
    20060602
    publisher:
    not reported by source
    media_types:

    1 results

    1. aviser
    languages:

    1 results

    1. Norsk bokmål
    county:
    Oslo
    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_digavis_finansavisen_null_null_20060602_15_124_1-1_001_null/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/e4ab866f2c9a02fe6bae40d1aa2cfd68
  9. id:
    edf905c6fd629b0202d077e26ca549d2
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2024120983003_001
    title:
    Bedriftskatalogen BizKit (rosa sider : trykt utg.). 2003
    creators:

    1 results

    1. Findexa
    year:
    2003
    publisher:
    Findexa
    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_2024120983003_001_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/edf905c6fd629b0202d077e26ca549d2
  10. id:
    327a60fe1b31ae1fef6024ccbcd3a1de
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2021101382038_001
    title:
    Norges handels-kalender (trykt utg.) : adressebok for handel, håndverk, industri og skipsfart. 1999
    creators:
    not reported by source
    year:
    1999
    publisher:
    S. M. Bryde
    media_types:

    1 results

    1. tidsskrift
    languages:

    1 results

    1. nob
    county:
    not reported by source
    digital:
    yes
    public_domain:
    no
    license:
    ccbyncnd
    viewability:
    ALL
    access_allowed_from:
    EVERYWHERE
    thumbnail:
    https://www.nb.no/services/image/resolver/URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2021101382038_001_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/327a60fe1b31ae1fef6024ccbcd3a1de
  11. id:
    545045a79125cc477e8013b52574ef89
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2021101382044_001
    title:
    Norges handels-kalender (trykt utg.) : adressebok for handel, håndverk, industri og skipsfart. 2001
    creators:
    not reported by source
    year:
    2001
    publisher:
    S. M. Bryde
    media_types:

    1 results

    1. tidsskrift
    languages:

    1 results

    1. nob
    county:
    not reported by source
    digital:
    yes
    public_domain:
    no
    license:
    ccbyncnd
    viewability:
    ALL
    access_allowed_from:
    EVERYWHERE
    thumbnail:
    https://www.nb.no/services/image/resolver/URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2021101382044_001_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/545045a79125cc477e8013b52574ef89
  12. id:
    af42094818a3b65d2ea2d34a3f07da15
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2021101382034_001
    title:
    Norges handels-kalender (trykt utg.) : adressebok for handel, håndverk, industri og skipsfart. 2000
    creators:
    not reported by source
    year:
    2000
    publisher:
    S. M. Bryde
    media_types:

    1 results

    1. tidsskrift
    languages:

    1 results

    1. nob
    county:
    not reported by source
    digital:
    yes
    public_domain:
    no
    license:
    ccbyncnd
    viewability:
    ALL
    access_allowed_from:
    EVERYWHERE
    thumbnail:
    https://www.nb.no/services/image/resolver/URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2021101382034_001_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/af42094818a3b65d2ea2d34a3f07da15
limit:
25
offset:
0
returned:
12
has_more_results:
no
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

  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.