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 2026-09-27T10:18:46Z in 0.179 seconds.

total:

207

page:

size:

items:

10 results

id:
8a95d796b15124505241daa919895882
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_finansavisen_null_null_20160523_1_115_1
title:
Finansavisen
creators:
not reported by source
year:
20160523
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_20160523_1_115_1-1_001_null/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/8a95d796b15124505241daa919895882
id:
03bcf6c56b0a15e1e39a591f5fb3f85e
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2023120780071_004
title:
Dagens IT. 2006 Vol. 15 Nr. 5
creators:
1 results
1. Dagens IT
year:
2006
publisher:
Dagens IT AS
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_2023120780071_004_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/03bcf6c56b0a15e1e39a591f5fb3f85e
id:
a2c11a56af4dfdcabae536811d11dc7a
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2023112980042_007
title:
Teleavisen. 2005 Vol. 4 Nr. 7
creators:
not reported by source
year:
2005
publisher:
Telepress
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_2023112980042_007_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/a2c11a56af4dfdcabae536811d11dc7a
id:
10fb409b4c83a28045fd6fd5abe84c39
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2023041480013_003
title:
Computerworld (Oslo : trykt utg.). 2005 Vol. 23 Nr. 13
creators:
not reported by source
year:
2005
publisher:
Computer Communications
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_2023041480013_003_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/10fb409b4c83a28045fd6fd5abe84c39
id:
8ddccf1d1121bc6162cc338011a751e2
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2023041480009_011
title:
Computerworld (Oslo : trykt utg.). 2005 Vol. 23 Nr. 30
creators:
not reported by source
year:
2005
publisher:
Computer Communications
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_2023041480009_011_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/8ddccf1d1121bc6162cc338011a751e2
id:
f728f5e319e625be4502540fe9f22b15
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2023112980042_006
title:
Teleavisen. 2005 Vol. 4 Nr. 6
creators:
not reported by source
year:
2005
publisher:
Telepress
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_2023112980042_006_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/f728f5e319e625be4502540fe9f22b15
id:
2bca44878c81a1a42c3b6630163cbbc9
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_finansavisen_null_null_20170627_26_144_1
title:
Finansavisen
creators:
not reported by source
year:
20170627
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_20170627_26_144_1-1_001_null/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/2bca44878c81a1a42c3b6630163cbbc9
id:
7d184a9720dfaba5ee698a4640072c23
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_finansavisen_null_null_20110404_20_79_1
title:
Finansavisen
creators:
not reported by source
year:
20110404
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_20110404_20_79_1-1_001_null/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/7d184a9720dfaba5ee698a4640072c23
id:
40bdf949a6ef6c3d9736672200e22113
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2023020680002_008
title:
Computerworld (Oslo : trykt utg.). 2003 Vol. 20 Nr. 8
creators:
not reported by source
year:
2003
publisher:
Computer Communications
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_2023020680002_008_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/40bdf949a6ef6c3d9736672200e22113
id:
71b274671e43f0ca4f0cc50c6b0c5212
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2023020680002_006
title:
Computerworld (Oslo : trykt utg.). 2003 Vol. 20 Nr. 7
creators:
not reported by source
year:
2003
publisher:
Computer Communications
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_2023020680002_006_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/71b274671e43f0ca4f0cc50c6b0c5212

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.