The National Library of Norway gives people across the country access to our shared knowledge and cultural heritage. By preserving, digitising and making available everything published for the public in Norway, the National Library is the foremost source of knowledge about Norway and Norwegian society.
In Mo i Rana, just south of the Arctic Circle, we preserve Norway’s documentary heritage for the next thousand years in vast storage halls deep inside the mountains. For almost twenty years, we have systematically digitised our collections – from books, newspapers and journals to music, photographs, film and archival material.
One of the National Library’s main goals is to ensure that as many people as possible know and use our shared knowledge and cultural heritage. Through collective licensing agreements with rights holders, we provide digital access to a large part of Norway’s cultural heritage while ensuring that creators are fairly compensated. More and more media types are becoming searchable and accessible through our Digital Library.
The extensive work involved in legal deposit, knowledge organisation and digitisation also benefits people across the country through exhibitions, events, school programmes and podcasts that communicate Norway’s cultural heritage. In the National Library’s historic building in Oslo, visitors encounter a vibrant public library with exhibitions, reading rooms and library services.
The National Library is a research institution. Our digitised collections provide a unique foundation for research in the digital humanities and language technology.
Systematic digitisation has created an extensive text corpus that underpins the development of Norwegian language models. The National Library develops open language resources in collaboration with research communities and other partners, while enabling technology companies to build on them. Our ambition is to help ensure that artificial intelligence used in Norway is based on the Norwegian language and Norwegian source material.
The National Library develops national services and digital infrastructure for libraries across Norway.
Listen to the fragilty of what may be Norway’s oldest book
https://youtu.be/kOet2SDl_vo?si=lM-w8RXzDrZcU4QL
Restoration and digitisation of Norwegian film heritage – behind the scenes!
https://youtu.be/HrRA_MHHCrU?si=iL2Um1HIIFjvAIeA
(Auto-generated English subtitles are available. Enable them in the video settings.)
The world’s largest Fosse collection
https://youtu.be/wPKuHYkxMQo?si=wu3F_1iv5JRNaS2r
Read more on the national library’s page on CENL.
The National Library of Norway in Oslo, housed in the former university library building, is both a place for research and a space where the public can explore Norwegian cultural history through exhibitions, lectures, events and access to the archives. Photo: Gorm K. Gaare / National Library of Norway 
In the Map Centre, located at the National Library in Oslo, the public can explore the world’s most extensive collection of printed maps of Norway, the Nordic countries and the High North. Photo: Gorm K. Gaare / National Library of Norway 
In “Enlightened”, the National Library’s permanent exhibition, visitors can encounter cultural treasures ranging from medieval manuscripts and Edvard Grieg’s handwritten scores to Norway’s first website and the original script for the TV series SKAM. Photo: Gareth Gardner 
Through its school programmes, the National Library invites students to explore history and culture firsthand, working with original sources and guided learning experiences. Photo: Gorm K. Gaare / National Library of Norway 
At the National Library in Oslo, a rich programme of events brings audiences together for conversations and other live experiences that highlight Norway’s cultural heritage. Photo: Gorm K. Gaare / National Library of Norway 
In Mo i Rana, large parts of the National Library’s collections are stored inside mountain facilities designed for long-term preservation—an underground complex built to safeguard cultural heritage for centuries. Photo: Jan Inge Larsen 
The entrance tunnel to the National Library’s mountain storage facilities leads deep into the rock, where vast underground vaults protect the collections under stable conditions. Photo: Maja Atterstig 
In Mo i Rana, fully automated storage facilities hold millions of items in steel containers, retrieved by robotic systems for lending to libraries across Norway. Photo: Statsbygg/Hans Fredrik Asbjørnsen 
The National Library systematically digitises its collections, making cultural heritage from the Middle Ages to the present day accessible for research and public use. Photo: Ketil Born 
Sound engineer Jacob Dobewall at work in the National Library’s audio digitisation lab, where recordings stored on obsolete media are carefully preserved and made accessible for future generations. Photo: Marius Nyheim Kristoffersen