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 2026-09-11T21:50:46Z in 0.308 seconds.

total:
6
page:
0
size:
10
items:

6 results

  1. id:
    6025eff8a9a9d1c3ca4a599fb3edc43c
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_baerumsavisen_null_null_20120815_4_25_1
    title:
    Bærumsavisen
    creators:
    not reported by source
    year:
    20120815
    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:
    copyrighted
    viewability:
    NONE
    access_allowed_from:
    NB
    thumbnail:
    https://www.nb.no/services/image/resolver/URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_baerumsavisen_null_null_20120815_4_25_1-1_001_null/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/6025eff8a9a9d1c3ca4a599fb3edc43c
  2. id:
    4eac7062ac52212edaefd7a3c6d6ee94
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_budstikkaforaskerogb_null_null_20120614_115_135_1
    title:
    Budstikka (Asker og Bærum)
    creators:
    not reported by source
    year:
    20120614
    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:
    copyrighted
    viewability:
    NONE
    access_allowed_from:
    LIBRARY
    thumbnail:
    https://www.nb.no/services/image/resolver/URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_budstikkaforaskerogb_null_null_20120614_115_135_1-01_001_hovedavis/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/4eac7062ac52212edaefd7a3c6d6ee94
  3. id:
    cb2b9255e01166ecdf2ff5da798fab15
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_budstikkaforaskerogb_null_null_20120817_115_189_1
    title:
    Budstikka (Asker og Bærum)
    creators:
    not reported by source
    year:
    20120817
    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:
    copyrighted
    viewability:
    NONE
    access_allowed_from:
    LIBRARY
    thumbnail:
    https://www.nb.no/services/image/resolver/URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_budstikkaforaskerogb_null_null_20120817_115_189_1-01_001_hovedavis/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/cb2b9255e01166ecdf2ff5da798fab15
  4. id:
    a36f6c89e69e790510fb686525d66b46
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2021010683289_001
    title:
    Bæringen : om styre og stell i Bærum kommune. 2013 Vol. 25 Nr. 2
    creators:

    2 results

    1. Bærum Informasjonstjenesten
    2. Bærum Kommunikasjonsenheten
    year:
    2013
    publisher:
    Bærum kommune, Informasjonstjenesten
    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_2021010683289_001_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/a36f6c89e69e790510fb686525d66b46
  5. id:
    6edf67ba2ef096c7ed2d75453354a2eb
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_budstikkaforaskerogb_null_null_20130301_116_50_1
    title:
    Budstikka (Asker og Bærum)
    creators:
    not reported by source
    year:
    20130301
    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:
    copyrighted
    viewability:
    NONE
    access_allowed_from:
    LIBRARY
    thumbnail:
    https://www.nb.no/services/image/resolver/URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_budstikkaforaskerogb_null_null_20130301_116_50_1-01_001_hovedavis/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/6edf67ba2ef096c7ed2d75453354a2eb
  6. id:
    ce77896c2184eb237eb696b8a739d3f2
    urn:
    URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_aftenposten_aften_9_20120613_153_68_1
    title:
    Aftenposten
    creators:
    not reported by source
    year:
    20120613
    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:
    LIBRARY
    thumbnail:
    https://www.nb.no/services/image/resolver/URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_aftenposten_aften_9_20120613_153_68_1-1_001_foerste/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
    viewer_url:
    https://www.nb.no/items/ce77896c2184eb237eb696b8a739d3f2
limit:
25
offset:
0
returned:
6
has_more_results:
no
truncated:
no
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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.