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 2026-09-26T11:01:30Z in 0.216 seconds.

total:
19267
page:
0
size:
10
items:

10 results

  1. id:
    da303ffdf4634fdd97c1642cd848dd28
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2025031980072_010
    title:
    AGI norsk grafisk tidsskrift. 2005 132
    creators:

    2 results

    1. Aktuell grafisk informasjon
    2. Mentor online
    year:
    2005
    publisher:
    AGI Publishing House
    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_2025031980072_010_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/da303ffdf4634fdd97c1642cd848dd28
  2. id:
    2879aa6a87c4fef867efa9a6da30caff
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2025031980073_005
    title:
    AGI norsk grafisk tidsskrift. 2006 138
    creators:

    2 results

    1. Aktuell grafisk informasjon
    2. Mentor online
    year:
    2006
    publisher:
    AGI Publishing House
    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_2025031980073_005_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/2879aa6a87c4fef867efa9a6da30caff
  3. id:
    ce0e714c37ae764d2f7f19a5c700e059
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2025031980073_008
    title:
    AGI norsk grafisk tidsskrift. 2006 141
    creators:

    2 results

    1. Aktuell grafisk informasjon
    2. Mentor online
    year:
    2006
    publisher:
    AGI Publishing House
    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_2025031980073_008_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/ce0e714c37ae764d2f7f19a5c700e059
  4. id:
    4a66d3eae3a88b0cc44fbd20f876c084
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2025031980073_006
    title:
    AGI norsk grafisk tidsskrift. 2006 139
    creators:

    2 results

    1. Aktuell grafisk informasjon
    2. Mentor online
    year:
    2006
    publisher:
    AGI Publishing House
    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_2025031980073_006_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/4a66d3eae3a88b0cc44fbd20f876c084
  5. id:
    e7915561df333ac2771605cb956d8681
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2025031980072_001
    title:
    AGI norsk grafisk tidsskrift. 2005 123
    creators:

    2 results

    1. Aktuell grafisk informasjon
    2. Mentor online
    year:
    2005
    publisher:
    AGI Publishing House
    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_2025031980072_001_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/e7915561df333ac2771605cb956d8681
  6. id:
    c70bff1e41141d475b940a61d01ccd15
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2025031980073_010
    title:
    AGI norsk grafisk tidsskrift. 2006 143
    creators:

    2 results

    1. Aktuell grafisk informasjon
    2. Mentor online
    year:
    2006
    publisher:
    AGI Publishing House
    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_2025031980073_010_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/c70bff1e41141d475b940a61d01ccd15
  7. id:
    a0bff402450a22c6512d3940b021b273
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2025031980073_009
    title:
    AGI norsk grafisk tidsskrift. 2006 142
    creators:

    2 results

    1. Aktuell grafisk informasjon
    2. Mentor online
    year:
    2006
    publisher:
    AGI Publishing House
    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_2025031980073_009_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/a0bff402450a22c6512d3940b021b273
  8. id:
    7d5de4d1d65f9ae43e9d036e1a8b84f4
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2025031980073_003
    title:
    AGI norsk grafisk tidsskrift. 2006 136
    creators:

    2 results

    1. Aktuell grafisk informasjon
    2. Mentor online
    year:
    2006
    publisher:
    AGI Publishing House
    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_2025031980073_003_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/7d5de4d1d65f9ae43e9d036e1a8b84f4
  9. id:
    aceb2434bf905b0c417604ec1fa15bd7
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2025031980072_006
    title:
    AGI norsk grafisk tidsskrift. 2005 128
    creators:

    2 results

    1. Aktuell grafisk informasjon
    2. Mentor online
    year:
    2005
    publisher:
    AGI Publishing House
    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_2025031980072_006_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/aceb2434bf905b0c417604ec1fa15bd7
  10. id:
    46dd922a4710428e7a9f3e8c2d17711c
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2025031980071_003
    title:
    AGI norsk grafisk tidsskrift. 2004 114
    creators:

    2 results

    1. Aktuell grafisk informasjon
    2. Mentor online
    year:
    2004
    publisher:
    AGI Publishing House
    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_2025031980071_003_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/46dd922a4710428e7a9f3e8c2d17711c
limit:
25
offset:
0
returned:
10
has_more_results:
yes
truncated:
yes
next_offset:
10
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.