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: one of: date, date,desc, title, title,desc, otherid, otherid,desc, firstDigitalContentTime, firstDigitalContentTime,desc, optional, default None; 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}&limit=25&offset=0

Replace {q}, {media_type}, {language}, {county}, {year_from}, {year_to}, {digital_only}, {sort} 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}&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).
`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}&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}&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}&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: one of: date, date,desc, title, title,desc, otherid, otherid,desc, firstDigitalContentTime, firstDigitalContentTime,desc. One of date, title, otherid, firstDigitalContentTime, optionally suffixed ",desc" (default: relevance).

Result

Source: National Library of Norway. Retrieved 2026-11-13T00:35:41Z in 0.223 seconds.

total:

page:

size:

items:

7 results

id:
7401b53e6f1b4abc8014cd29b4d3dcc6
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_itromso_null_null_20170214_119_38_1
title:
iTromsø (2010- )
creators:
not reported by source
year:
2017
publisher:
not reported by source
media_types:
1 results
1. aviser
languages:
1 results
1. Norsk bokmål
county:
Troms
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_itromso_null_null_20170214_119_38_1-1_001_null/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/7401b53e6f1b4abc8014cd29b4d3dcc6
date:
2017-02-14
id:
5adf0794104713a69f24ab63ea1153ed
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2015061081057_001
title:
Norsk skoleblad (Oslo : trykt utg.). 1995 Nr. 29
creators:
not reported by source
year:
1995
publisher:
Norsk lærerlag
media_types:
1 results
1. tidsskrift
languages:
3 results
1. nob
2. mul
3. nno
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_2015061081057_001_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/5adf0794104713a69f24ab63ea1153ed
id:
374ea2be02f751934a0455cc9c46c15d
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2022071580014_001
title:
Arbeidsmanden (Oslo : 1945) : medlemsblad for Norsk arbeidsmandsforbund. 2017 Nr. 1
creators:
1 results
1. Norsk arbeidsmandsforbund
year:
2017
publisher:
Arbeidsmandsforbundet
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_2022071580014_001_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/374ea2be02f751934a0455cc9c46c15d
id:
f4c3f1b12cba411aa3c969db20941b17
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2022013180008_005
title:
Business standard : tidsskriftet for den nye økonomien. 2003 Nr. 5
creators:
not reported by source
year:
2003
publisher:
IDG Magazines Norge
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_2022013180008_005_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/f4c3f1b12cba411aa3c969db20941b17
id:
77dcee73278e5fcbb4872bc971a1e75a
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2022030780007_006
title:
Arena (Norsk kommuneforbund) : fagblad for Norsk kommuneforbund. 2000 Nr. 6
creators:
1 results
1. Norsk kommuneforbund
year:
2000
publisher:
Norsk kommuneforbund
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_2022030780007_006_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/77dcee73278e5fcbb4872bc971a1e75a
id:
0e3bc81043ecd4af1e5aa6bf4e866413
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2022061780154_005
title:
PC world Norge. Tema. 2001 Nr. 4B
creators:
not reported by source
year:
2001
publisher:
IDG Magazines Norge
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_2022061780154_005_0001/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/0e3bc81043ecd4af1e5aa6bf4e866413
id:
bbdb7109c8845396a92de58996801b35
urn:
URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2022051828001
title:
Liber Breuiarius secundum ordinarium ritum ac consuetudinem ecclesie et diocesis Sleßuicensis
creators:
3 results
1. Kees, Thomas
2. Marchand, Guillaume
3. Den Romersk-katolske kirke
year:
1512
publisher:
[Thomas Kees & Guillaume Marchand]
media_types:
1 results
1. bøker
languages:
1 results
1. lat
county:
not reported by source
digital:
yes
public_domain:
yes
license:
publicdomain
viewability:
ALL
access_allowed_from:
EVERYWHERE
thumbnail:
https://www.nb.no/services/image/resolver/URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2022051828001_C1/full/0,128/0/native.jpg
viewer_url:
https://www.nb.no/items/bbdb7109c8845396a92de58996801b35

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.