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 2026-09-27T15:10:44Z in 0.193 seconds.

total:

118

page:

size:

items:

10 results

id:
41fb3b3aeb0c34a4968d73daf1728626
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_frolendingen_null_null_20190116_15_3_1
title:
Frolendingen
creators:
not reported by source
year:
20190116
publisher:
not reported by source
media_types:
1 results
1. aviser
languages:
1 results
1. Norsk bokmål
county:
Agder
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_frolendingen_null_null_20190116_15_3_1-1_001_hovedavis/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/41fb3b3aeb0c34a4968d73daf1728626
id:
74be50d7ec47d3555c73b16ccd8c6191
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_frolendingen_null_null_20190109_15_2_1
title:
Frolendingen
creators:
not reported by source
year:
20190109
publisher:
not reported by source
media_types:
1 results
1. aviser
languages:
1 results
1. Norsk bokmål
county:
Agder
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_frolendingen_null_null_20190109_15_2_1-1_001_hovedavis/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/74be50d7ec47d3555c73b16ccd8c6191
id:
b9efad096611868fe2ffa04be2921377
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_bomlonytt_null_null_20061213_34_137_1
title:
Bømlo-nytt
creators:
not reported by source
year:
20061213
publisher:
not reported by source
media_types:
1 results
1. aviser
languages:
1 results
1. Norsk bokmål
county:
Vestland
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_bomlonytt_null_null_20061213_34_137_1-1_001_null/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/b9efad096611868fe2ffa04be2921377
id:
cb1224a1c182aaaae6823e3413d9375d
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2025052180057_005
title:
Barnehage.no : medlemsmagasin for Private barnehagers landsforbund. 2011 Nr. 5
creators:
1 results
1. Private barnehagers landsforbund
year:
2011
publisher:
Private barnehagers landsforbund
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_2025052180057_005_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/cb1224a1c182aaaae6823e3413d9375d
id:
a26d8e2910d9112040ad1cc76e165d07
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_firda_null_null_20090805_92_178_1
title:
Firda
creators:
not reported by source
year:
20090805
publisher:
not reported by source
media_types:
1 results
1. aviser
languages:
1 results
1. Norsk bokmål
county:
Vestland
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_firda_null_null_20090805_92_178_1-1_001_null/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/a26d8e2910d9112040ad1cc76e165d07
id:
46e17e87b16bf101d1752875ce26a639
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_lillesandsposten_null_null_20150612_1_43_1
title:
Lillesands-Posten
creators:
not reported by source
year:
20150612
publisher:
not reported by source
media_types:
1 results
1. aviser
languages:
1 results
1. Norsk bokmål
county:
Agder
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_lillesandsposten_null_null_20150612_1_43_1-1_001_null/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/46e17e87b16bf101d1752875ce26a639
id:
303fb6891ca0ca60083b76f177a21f05
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_sovesten_null_null_20081030_15_41_1
title:
Søvesten
creators:
not reported by source
year:
20081030
publisher:
not reported by source
media_types:
1 results
1. aviser
languages:
1 results
1. Norsk bokmål
county:
Trøndelag
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_sovesten_null_null_20081030_15_41_1-1_001_null/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/303fb6891ca0ca60083b76f177a21f05
id:
ced58355956d47a97c6fd2623ca2bbf0
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_sunnmorsposten_null_null_20181129_136_278_1
title:
Sunnmørsposten
creators:
not reported by source
year:
20181129
publisher:
not reported by source
media_types:
1 results
1. aviser
languages:
1 results
1. Norsk bokmål
county:
Møre og Romsdal
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_sunnmorsposten_null_null_20181129_136_278_1-1_001_hovedavis/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/ced58355956d47a97c6fd2623ca2bbf0
id:
b86a75520c985ff4865a6ae03cca19d3
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_innsidano_null_null_20090115_2_1_1
title:
Innsida.no
creators:
not reported by source
year:
20090115
publisher:
not reported by source
media_types:
1 results
1. aviser
languages:
1 results
1. Norsk bokmål
county:
Vestland
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_innsidano_null_null_20090115_2_1_1-1_001_null/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/b86a75520c985ff4865a6ae03cca19d3
id:
a6e80b189e703cd4c3e6594ae1818dbd
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_romsdalsbudstikke_null_null_20091123_167_272_1
title:
Romsdals Budstikke
creators:
not reported by source
year:
20091123
publisher:
not reported by source
media_types:
1 results
1. aviser
languages:
1 results
1. Norsk bokmål
county:
Møre og Romsdal
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_romsdalsbudstikke_null_null_20091123_167_272_1-1_001_null/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/a6e80b189e703cd4c3e6594ae1818dbd

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.