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 2026-09-13T08:22:12Z in 0.202 seconds.

total:
227
page:
0
size:
10
items:

10 results

  1. id:
    791b00b80fa9ba24fca0c27bd8d2c03f
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2024101083030_001
    title:
    Offshore Norway (Offshore Norway AS) : your guide to the Norwegian oil and gas industry. 2024/2025
    creators:

    1 results

    1. Offshore Norway
    year:
    2024
    publisher:
    Offshore Norway AS
    media_types:

    1 results

    1. tidsskrift
    languages:

    1 results

    1. eng
    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_2024101083030_001_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/791b00b80fa9ba24fca0c27bd8d2c03f
  2. id:
    e94ee6c5ba1be70d3a173d982ad01bd3
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2022100483282_001
    title:
    Offshore Norway (Offshore Norway AS) : your guide to the Norwegian oil and gas industry. 2022/2023
    creators:

    1 results

    1. Offshore Norway
    year:
    2022
    publisher:
    Offshore Norway AS
    media_types:

    1 results

    1. tidsskrift
    languages:

    1 results

    1. eng
    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_2022100483282_001_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/e94ee6c5ba1be70d3a173d982ad01bd3
  3. id:
    dbaa49b052e075ef31c2798c4e3cedf9
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_plikttidsskrift_000013170
    title:
    Nettverk (EL & IT forbundet : trykt utg.) : medlemsblad for EL & IT forbundet. 2025 Nr. 2
    creators:

    1 results

    1. EL & IT forbundet
    year:
    2025
    publisher:
    EL & IT forbundet
    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_000013170_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/dbaa49b052e075ef31c2798c4e3cedf9
  4. id:
    0cbb6fa87be02e835b984fcfa5a1bb7d
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_plikttidsskrift_000012436
    title:
    Nettverk (EL & IT forbundet : trykt utg.) : medlemsblad for EL & IT forbundet. 2024 Nr. 5
    creators:

    1 results

    1. EL & IT forbundet
    year:
    2024
    publisher:
    EL & IT forbundet
    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_000012436_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/0cbb6fa87be02e835b984fcfa5a1bb7d
  5. id:
    4ddabf72bafcc88f298e4e391b774f32
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_plikttidsskrift_000009769
    title:
    Nettverk (Oslo. 1999) : medlemsblad for EL & IT forbundet. 2022 Nr. 3
    creators:

    1 results

    1. EL & IT forbundet
    year:
    2022
    publisher:
    EL & IT forbundet
    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_000009769_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/4ddabf72bafcc88f298e4e391b774f32
  6. id:
    d63df2a221a702d7aa1b9e705c94d161
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_plikttidsskrift_000012622
    title:
    Nettverk (EL & IT forbundet : trykt utg.) : medlemsblad for EL & IT forbundet. 2024 Nr. 6
    creators:

    1 results

    1. EL & IT forbundet
    year:
    2024
    publisher:
    EL & IT forbundet
    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_000012622_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/d63df2a221a702d7aa1b9e705c94d161
  7. id:
    118535d5f36a0bc642c13c6561dad2ff
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2023022483120_001
    title:
    Ringreven (Saupstad). 2022 Vol. 50 Nr. 4
    creators:

    1 results

    1. Ringvegen borettslag
    year:
    2022
    publisher:
    [Ringvegen borettslag]
    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_2023022483120_001_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/118535d5f36a0bc642c13c6561dad2ff
  8. id:
    fd6f940aaf3e4112f58ba982b139d574
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2025022183020_001
    title:
    Montøforum (trykt utg.). 2024 Vol. 34 Nr. 2
    creators:

    3 results

    1. Elektromontørenes forening Avdeling 113
    2. Elektroarbeidernes fagforening Vestland
    3. Elektroarbeidernes fagforening Hordaland, Sogn og Fjordane
    year:
    2024
    publisher:
    Elektroarbeidernes fagforening Vestland
    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_2025022183020_001_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/fd6f940aaf3e4112f58ba982b139d574
  9. id:
    e279b52872c7fe6979a01fa1b1090582
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2025041080025_006
    title:
    Aktuell sikkerhet : Norges ledende sikkerhetsmagasin. 2021 Nr. 6
    creators:
    not reported by source
    year:
    2021
    publisher:
    Ask 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_2025041080025_006_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/e279b52872c7fe6979a01fa1b1090582
  10. id:
    0efacb3086e717e424745a65be381c8a
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2023110683182_001
    title:
    Årsberetning. 2021
    creators:

    1 results

    1. Elektroarbeidernes fagforening Trøndelag
    year:
    2021
    publisher:
    Elektroarbeidernes fagforening Trondheim
    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_2023110683182_001_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/0efacb3086e717e424745a65be381c8a
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.