Nasjonalbiblioteket
The National Library of Norway is digitizing its collections and provides information about that work.
About Nasjonalbiblioteket
The National Library of Norway is digitizing its entire collection, a programme that began in 2006 and is estimated to take 20–30 years. Under the Norwegian Legal Deposit Act, all published content in all media must be deposited with the Library, and the collection is also expanded through purchases and gifts. Digitized material passes through scanning, structure analysis (including OCR so text can be searched beyond metadata), and post-processing into archival formats; born-digital material such as newspapers, e-books, radio, TV and web content is handled through separate reception lines. The digital collection covers material from the Middle Ages to the present day.
Access depends on copyright status. Material not protected by copyright is available to everyone online. Where agreements with copyright organisations are in place, copyright-protected material is made available online to users with Norwegian IP addresses, and the entire digital collection is available for research and documentation on the Library's premises. The Library also offers digital archiving services to other cultural institutions in Norway.
Key features
- Digitizes books, newspapers, photographs, manuscripts, magazines, films, video and sound
- Applies OCR so users can search full text, not just metadata
- Handles born-digital material including e-books, radio, TV and web harvesting
- Stores printed material as jpeg2000 or tiff, radio as wav
- Offers digital archiving services to other cultural institutions in Norway
- Digital collection spans the Middle Ages to the present day
- Legal deposit requirement brings all published Norwegian content, in all media, into the collection
- Long-term archiving standards developed with international organisations, using metadata and sustainable identifiers
- Separate production lines handle different material types, with several terabytes of data processed daily
- Full digitization of the collection is estimated to take 20–30 years
- Copyright-protected material is available online only with Norwegian IP addresses where agreements exist
- The complete digital collection, including copyright-protected material, requires visiting the Library's premises
Nasjonalbiblioteket at a glance
- Type
- Website
- Pricing
- Not confirmed. Check the site
- Platforms
- Web
- Open source
- Not stated
- Language
- English
- Last checked
- Oct 6, 2026 · Online when checked
- Listed
- Oct 5, 2026
Popular in Learning in Other Languages
Well-known listings from the same topic.
Nasjonalbiblioteket FAQ
Who can access copyright-protected material online?
How long will it take to digitize the whole collection?
What kinds of material are digitized?
Tell us and an editor will check it.
Claim the listing and suggest updates yourself. An editor checks every claim first.