News from nswrfs catalog

Happy Birthday NSW RFS Library - 25 years!

First introduced to members in the Winter 2001 Bush Fire Bulletin, the library has grown over the past 25 years…

The library began in Rosehill, moved to the Carter Street HQ and now lives on level 3 in the Sydney Olympic Park HQ that opened at the end of 2018. It is proud to have several thousands of active library members, the largest wildfire literature collection internationally in one spot, research databases, online magazines, eBooks and audiobooks. Hundreds of our books and thousands of articles are delivered each year right across Australia assisting not only our RFS members but other emergency services, students and members of the public, responding to the several thousand information queries the library receives each year!

Below is a montage from our first librarian Barbara Glass being awarded the ALIES outstanding service award through to our present day library service and present day librarian (with a few Christmas photos, children visitors and conference stands in between).
The library recently become part of the RFS Firefighting Advancement and Research unit.

Happy Birthday RFS Library!

Browse our Bush Fire Bulletin online through Trove

The NSW Rural Fire Service, with the National Library of Australia, has digitised the entire collection of the Bush Fire Bulletin dating back to September 1952. The digitised collection also includes the Sitrep bulletin (a joint publication that incorporated both our Bush Fire Bulletin and the SES Bulletin) from 1976 to 1978.

This historical archived collection is available online in Trove.

Browse the collection.

Bush Fire Bulletin (1952 – 1975)

Sitrep (1976 – 1978)

Bush Fire Bulletin (1978 – 2022)

Search the collection.

If you are looking for articles on a particular topic, e.g. the town of Merriwa, you can easily search the whole Bulletin collection in Trove.

Click here to open the Trove search box

The search box is pre-filled with the Bulletin catalogue items. There are over 6000 articles.
In the search box (after the Bulletin Catalogue items), type in AND followed by your keyword(s) e.g. AND Merriwa
Click on the search icon. The resulting articles will be listed.

Please contact the library if you need any assistance.

Welcome to your NSW RFS Library

Our NSW RFS library has for 25 years actively understood, supported and enriched the NSW Rural Fire Service information needs.

The library houses a tailored collection, both hardcopy and online, and delivers high-quality, professional library services to our members. The library collecton focuses on published wildfires/bush fires resources but also covers topics such as emergency management, natural sciences, fire science, professional development, leadership, and health and safety.

The library is for all our NSW RFS members to use.

How can the library help you?

Information assistance: Ask the librarian for assistance in sourcing publications for your work-related project.

Current awareness: Request alerts for new journal issues or tailored for your topic of interest

Loans: Books may be borrowed by all members of the NSW RFS. Items are posted to your nominated address and return is easy - use the enclosed return address label and hand in at your district office.

Interlibrary loans: Items not held in the NSW RFS library can be obtained from other libraries.

Subject reading lists: Collaborate with your professional librarian to compile subject-specific reading guides.

Literacy classes: Individual or group literacy training available online or face-to-face to improve your searching skills

If you are visiting NSW RFS HQ, please use our Library to study, browse our collection and borrow books, meet guests, or enjoy some quiet time.