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 2026-09-27T12:22:48Z in 0.191 seconds.

total:

7682

page:

size:

items:

10 results

id:
ad6d2e9cafab07a46205cd168616719b
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_porsgrunnsdagblad_null_null_20170812_0_157_1
title:
Porsgrunns Dagblad
creators:
not reported by source
year:
20170812
publisher:
not reported by source
media_types:
1 results
1. aviser
languages:
1 results
1. Norsk bokmål
county:
Telemark
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_porsgrunnsdagblad_null_null_20170812_0_157_1-1_01_hovedavis/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/ad6d2e9cafab07a46205cd168616719b
id:
e314708677c37ca6c41803ec738d0b83
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_porsgrunnsdagblad_null_null_20170817_0_160_1
title:
Porsgrunns Dagblad
creators:
not reported by source
year:
20170817
publisher:
not reported by source
media_types:
1 results
1. aviser
languages:
1 results
1. Norsk bokmål
county:
Telemark
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_porsgrunnsdagblad_null_null_20170817_0_160_1-1_01_hovedavis/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/e314708677c37ca6c41803ec738d0b83
id:
b3fe7592d36c8af7d1a7b1be5b1a0755
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_porsgrunnsdagblad_null_null_20170826_0_167_1
title:
Porsgrunns Dagblad
creators:
not reported by source
year:
20170826
publisher:
not reported by source
media_types:
1 results
1. aviser
languages:
1 results
1. Norsk bokmål
county:
Telemark
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_porsgrunnsdagblad_null_null_20170826_0_167_1-1_01_hovedavis/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/b3fe7592d36c8af7d1a7b1be5b1a0755
id:
8632a73dcd0e790a8f48d48731d6b583
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_porsgrunnsdagblad_null_null_20150915_1_178_1
title:
Porsgrunns Dagblad
creators:
not reported by source
year:
20150915
publisher:
not reported by source
media_types:
1 results
1. aviser
languages:
1 results
1. Norsk bokmål
county:
Telemark
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_porsgrunnsdagblad_null_null_20150915_1_178_1-1_001_null/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/8632a73dcd0e790a8f48d48731d6b583
id:
e15d382156b26257c41738a160878d73
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_porsgrunnsdagblad_null_null_19970317_1_53_1
title:
Porsgrunns Dagblad
creators:
not reported by source
year:
19970317
publisher:
not reported by source
media_types:
1 results
1. aviser
languages:
1 results
1. Norsk bokmål
county:
Telemark
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_porsgrunnsdagblad_null_null_19970317_1_53_1-1_001_null/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/e15d382156b26257c41738a160878d73
id:
300e51be56e99746ed7a8fd60aa4f7e3
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_porsgrunnsdagblad_null_null_20230905_0_104_1
title:
Porsgrunns Dagblad
creators:
not reported by source
year:
20230905
publisher:
not reported by source
media_types:
1 results
1. aviser
languages:
1 results
1. Norsk bokmål
county:
Telemark
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_porsgrunnsdagblad_null_null_20230905_0_104_1-1_001_hovedavis/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/300e51be56e99746ed7a8fd60aa4f7e3
id:
541728f703f159036e7f766642094e8d
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_porsgrunnsdagblad_null_null_20130123_null_16_1
title:
Porsgrunns Dagblad
creators:
not reported by source
year:
20130123
publisher:
not reported by source
media_types:
1 results
1. aviser
languages:
1 results
1. Norsk bokmål
county:
Telemark
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_porsgrunnsdagblad_null_null_20130123_null_16_1-1_001_null/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/541728f703f159036e7f766642094e8d
id:
1af6bfd15eb6a6f3f95b40b31f98021e
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_porsgrunnsdagblad_null_null_19801105_67_257_1
title:
Porsgrunns Dagblad
creators:
not reported by source
year:
19801105
publisher:
not reported by source
media_types:
1 results
1. aviser
languages:
1 results
1. Norsk bokmål
county:
Telemark
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_porsgrunnsdagblad_null_null_19801105_67_257_1-1_001_null/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/1af6bfd15eb6a6f3f95b40b31f98021e
id:
183de902a875bdbf5cb6ea35b76ad83e
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_porsgrunnsdagblad_null_null_19820915_69_211_1
title:
Porsgrunns Dagblad
creators:
not reported by source
year:
19820915
publisher:
not reported by source
media_types:
1 results
1. aviser
languages:
1 results
1. Norsk bokmål
county:
Telemark
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_porsgrunnsdagblad_null_null_19820915_69_211_1-1_001_null/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/183de902a875bdbf5cb6ea35b76ad83e
id:
abdc92c9b29162a8f2106f3c0b36abb9
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_porsgrunnsdagblad_null_null_20260203_0_14_1
title:
Porsgrunns Dagblad
creators:
not reported by source
year:
20260203
publisher:
not reported by source
media_types:
1 results
1. aviser
languages:
1 results
1. Norsk bokmål
county:
Telemark
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_porsgrunnsdagblad_null_null_20260203_0_14_1-1_001_hovedavis/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/abdc92c9b29162a8f2106f3c0b36abb9

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.