NSW Rural Fire Service Library
New books, articles and reports in your library this month
Quite an astonishing selection of new books, reports and journal articles listed below, so don’t hesitate in sending
through your requests to the librarian, Katie, or use the library’s online catalogue cart.
A reminder that the latest online issues of the Australian Geographic and Good Health magazines have just
been published. These magazines are available as part of our health and safety initiative, access using the
Flipster link and then just click on the title you are interested in. (A polite reminder to not share with any nonNSW RFS members or post anywhere online as part of our subscription agreement.)
FIRE INCIDENTS – AUSTRALIAN
LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT
Climate change and the NSW/ACT
bushfire threat: update 2016 (Online
report)
This report provides an update to the
previous Climate Council report on
bushfire risk and NSW and the ACT.
We begin this report by describing the
background context of fire and its history in NSW and
the ACT. We then outline the link between bushfires
and climate change, before considering how bushfire
danger weather is intensifying in NSW and the ACT,
and what this means for the immediate future. We
explore the impacts of fire on people, property, water
supply and biodiversity, before considering the future
implications of bushfires for NSW and ACT fire
managers, planners and emergency services.
Please use this Australian Policy Online link to access
the report.
There has been a new range of books (as detailed
below) added to our Learning and Development
collection.
Responses to, and lessons learnt from, the
January and February 2016 bushfires in remote
Tasmanian wilderness (Online report)
Senate Environment and Communications
References Committee, December, 2016
This report examines the response to, and lessons
learnt from, recent fires in remote Tasmanian
wilderness affecting the Tasmanian Wilderness World
Heritage Area. The report examines the impact of
climate change on fire frequency and magnitude, the
financial, human and mechanical resources that were
available and Australia’s obligations under the
Convention Concerning the Protection of World
The complete collection of L&D recommended
reading may be easily browsed using this link.
Several of the books are also offered in eBook
format, for use at home or work. Similar to our
library’s hardcopy books, our eBooks are available for
all NSW RFS Members.
Making comics : storytelling secrets of comics,
manga and graphic novels (Book)
Scott McCloud’s book isn't really about how to
draw comics: it's about how to make drawings
become a story and how cartooning choices
communicate meaning to readers.
Please contact the library to borrow this book.
Design for how people learn (Book)
Whether it's giving a presentation, writing
documentation, or creating a website or blog,
we need and want to share our knowledge
with other people. In Design For How People
Learn, you'll discover how to create materials that enable
your audience to both gain and retain the knowledge and
skills you're sharing.
Please contact the library to borrow this book.
Cultural and Natural Heritage, and the adequacy of
the TWWHA's fire assessment and modelling
capacity.
Please use this Australian Policy Online link to access
the report.
DISASTERS AND EMERGENCY
MANAGEMENT
Emergency Management Australia
Podcast
Attorney-General's Department,
December 2016
The last episode of EMA Podcast for
2016 celebrates the winners of this year’s Resilient
Australia Awards including a chat with this year’s
national winner, the Sunshine Coast Council for their
Disaster Hub project.
Please use this EMA Podcast link to access the 35
minute recording.
Defining disaster resilience: comparisons from
key stakeholders involved in emergency
management in Victoria, Australia. (Journal article)
Disasters, January 2017
Three years after the introduction of the National
Strategy for Disaster Resilience there remains no
unanimously adopted definition of disaster resilience
within Australia's emergency management sector. The
aim of this study is to determine what the concept
means to key stakeholders in the emergency
management sector in the Australian State of Victoria,
and how these conceptualisations overlap and
diverge.
Please contact the library to request a copy of this
article.
Shall we wake the president? : two
centuries of disaster management from
the Oval Office (Book)
In Shall We Wake the President?, Tevi
Troy, a presidential historian and former
senior White House aide and deputy secretary of the
Department of Health & Human Services, looks at the
evolving role of the US president in dealing with
disasters, and looks at how US presidents have
handled disasters throughout their history.
Please contact the library to borrow this book.
Public values for integration in natural disaster
management and planning: A case study from
Victoria, Australia (Journal article)
Journal of Environmental Management, January 2017
Values can be useful for identifying what is important
Michael Allen's guide to e-learning : building
interactive, fun, and effective learning
programs for any company (Book)
Presenting best practices for building
interactive, fun, and effective online learning
programs, this updated edition offers insight regarding
what makes great e-learning and features history lessons
that assist you in avoiding common pitfalls.
Please contact the library to borrow this book.
Training excellence : a comprehensive guide to creating
and delivering exceptional training courses (Book)
This book covers everything for successful training - from
setting up the course, creating the right environment,
building rapport to gaining and maintaining participation,
and the application of simple yet effective techniques.
Please contact the library to borrow this book.
Urban myths about learning and education
(Book)
Many things people commonly believe to be
true about education are not supported by
scientific evidence. Urban Myths about
Learning and Education examines commonly
held incorrect beliefs and then provides the truth of what
research has shown.
Please contact the library to borrow this book.
Evidence-based training methods : a guide for
training professionals (Book)
Ruth Clark connects research to practice and offers
concrete training guidance in this second edition of
Evidence-Based Training Methods.
Please contact the library to borrow this book.
Scenario-based learning : evidencebased guidelines for online workforce elearning (Book)
Ruth Clark gives a wealth of kick-off
alternative research-based examples and describes
various types of case data in her book. The book also
includes tutorials, action templates, and online
references.
Please contact the library to borrow this book.
Working minds : a practitioner's guide
to cognitive task analysis (Book)
A handbook, offering a set of tools for
performing Cognitive Task Analysis
(CTA): methods for collecting data about
cognitive processes and events, analysing them, and
communicating them effectively. It covers both the
"why" and the "how" of CTA methods.
Please contact the library to borrow this book.
E-learning and the science of instruction : Proven
to individuals and communities, yet there is currently
not a coherent way to conceptualise, identify, and
organize the breadth of values that can be affected by
a natural disaster. The framework is applied in two
studies of bushfire in Victoria, Australia: 112
submissions from individuals to the 2009 Victorian
Bushfires Royal Commission and interviews with 30
members of the public in bushfire risk landscapes.
Please contact the library to request a copy of this
article.
Evaluations of post-disaster recovery: a review of
practice material (Online report)
A review of evaluations of disaster recovery efforts,
mostly focusing on grey literature. Advocates for a
national post-disaster recovery evaluation framework.
There is significant investment in post-disaster
recovery programs, with little known of their
effectiveness. This review identifies useful case
studies and methods to evaluate post-disaster
recovery efforts, and informs the development of a
national post-disaster evaluation framework.
Please use this Australian Policy Online link to access
the report.
Due to its popularity, more copies of AIIMS 4 (the
fourth edition of The Australasian Inter-service
Incident Management System: A Management
System for any Emergency) have been purchased
and are now available in the library to borrow.
FIRE BEHAVIOUR
The role of weather, past fire and topography in
crown fire occurrence in eastern Australia.
(Journal article)
International Journal of Wildland Fire. 2016, Vol.
25(10)
Our results suggest prescribed burning to maintain an
average of 10 years' TSF may actually increase crown
fire likelihood, but burning much more frequently can
be effective for risk reduction. Our results also
suggest the effects of weather, TSF and slope are not
adequately represented in the underlying equations of
most fire behaviour models, potentially leading to poor
prediction of fire spread and risk.
Please contact the library to request a copy of this
article.
HAZARD REDUCTION
A risk framework for operational risks associated with
prescribed burning : National Burning project: SubProject 3, October 2016 (Book)
guidelines for consumers and designers of multimedia
learning (Book)
Digital courses often fail to reach their potential for
learning effectiveness and efficiency. This updated fourth
edition provides research-based guidelines on how best
to present content with text, graphics, and audio as well
as the conditions under which those guidelines are most
effective.
The business of corporate learning (Book)
Based on first-hand experience, Shlomo
Ben-Hur (yes, that is his name) provides a
practical guide to setting up or
restructuring a corporate learning function
within a company, covering its seven key activities.
Please contact the library to borrow this book.
Job aids and performance support : moving from
knowledge in the classroom to knowledge
everywhere (Book)
The authors, Allison Rossett and Lisa Schafer, have
created a comprehensive guide about job aids.
Please contact the library to borrow this book.
Performance consulting : a strategic process
to improve, measure, and sustain
organizational results (Book)
In America, organisations spend $US175
billion in training initiatives and more than
$500 billion in human resource solutions
every year yet often have little to show for it. One reason
is that people “jump to solutions” before they identify the
causes of the problem. This third edition introduces
performance consulting, partnering with clients to clarify
business goals and determine root causes for gaps
between desired and current results.
Please contact the library to borrow this book.
Now available as eBooks...
The title link provided below allows NSW RFS Staff to
open the eBook directly when at work. Volunteers
and for those wishing to use the eBooks at home,
please contact the library for a password-embedded
link.
Make it stick : the science of successful
learning
Drawing on cognitive psychology and other
fields, Make It Stick offers techniques for
becoming more productive learners, and
cautions against study habits and practice routines that
turn out to be counterproductive.
Show your work
Show Your Work offers dozens of real
AFAC has engaged with prescribed fire practitioners
throughout Australia to derive a common framework
for addressing operational risks associated with
prescribed burning. The Risk Framework for
Operational Risks Associated with Prescribed
Burning, together with three existing risk frameworks
(for smoke, fuel hazard and ecological risks)
completes the risk management component of the
National Burning Project.
Please contact the library to borrow this book.
FIREFIGHTING
Extinguish to rescue (Journal article)
Crisis Response, December 2016
In the second article in this series on
fire operations in tunnels, Christian
Brauner presents the specific
challenges of operations in road and railway tunnels
and the general tactical approach that should be
adopted.
Please contact the library to request a copy of this
article and/or part 1 of the series.
Truck company operations (Book)
Author John Mittendorf has completely
rewritten his best-selling book, Truck
Company Operations, a must-have for all
firefighters who are assigned to the truck
and who have responsibilities for the truck on the
fireground.
Please contact the library to borrow this book.
Realizing the Vision of Smart Fire Fighting
IEEE Potentials 34(1), 2015
Fires in the wildland urban interface are but one of the
common challenges faced by today's emergency first
responders. For the Yarnell Hill Fire, and any
challenging emergency response event today, the
following question is inevitably asked: “Was there
information that could have made a
difference?” Smart fire fighting has significant potential
to use sensor-rich data to make the tasks of fire
fighters more effective and efficient, with direct
improvement to their safety and health.
Please contact the library to request a copy of this
article
The global wildland fire network : 2016 in review
(magazine article)
Wildfire Magazine, Nov-Dec 2016.
A round-the-world reflection on working with and
facing off fire: where we are at, and directions we are
headed.
examples of showing work, supported with tips for how to
help it happen, how leaders can lead by showing their
own work, and how L&D can extend its reach by showing
its own work and helping others show theirs.
The art of explanation
The Art of Explanation is for business
people, educators and influencers who want
to improve their explanation skills and start
solving explanation problems.
Beyond telling ain’t training fieldbook
This book provides readers with concrete
actions and support materials to help
transform telling to training. You will find useful
worksheets, assessments, tools, and advice
that will enable you and your organisation to
realise the true value of workplace learning.
Please close the eBook when you have finished with it to
allow other readers to open it.
LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
The politics of crisis management : public
leadership under pressure (Book)
In the latest edition of this book, the
authors examine how strategic leaders
deal with the challenges they face, the
political risks and opportunities they encounter, the
pitfalls they must avoid, and the paths towards reform
they may pursue.
Please contact the library to borrow this book.
MAPPING
A maximal covering location-based model for
analyzing the vulnerability of landscapes to wildfires:
Assessing the worst-case scenario. (Journal article)
European Journal of Operational Research, 2016
In this research, we study the vulnerability of landscapes
to wildfires based on the impact of the worst-case
scenario ignition locations. Using this scenario, we model
wildfires that cause the largest damage to a landscape
over a given time horizon.
Please contact the library to request a copy of this
article.
MEDIA
Please contact the library to request a copy of the
article.
AVIATION
What’s the buzz on delivery drones? (Online video)
Rand Corporation, December 2016
This 5 minutes video highlights issues explored in
detail in a series of forthcoming RAND reports on the
future of commercial delivery drones. These issues
include technical matters — vehicle design, air traffic
control, and energy consumption — as well as
locations where drone use makes the most sense
(e.g., in urban versus rural environments); their impact
on emissions, traffic congestion, and noise; privacy,
data, and liability concerns; and the need for new
regulations to deal with all of the above.
Please use this RAND corporation link to watch the
online video.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Animal Ownership Among Vulnerable Populations
in Regional South Australia: Implications for
Natural Disaster Preparedness and Resilience
(Journal article)
Journal of public health management and practice,
September 2016
Emergency services and associated agencies need to
consider how the unique needs of vulnerable
populations that keep animals, and their potential
differences in risk perception, relate to their bushfire
survival planning and preparedness requirements.
Please contact the library to request a copy of this
article.
CONDUCT AND ETHICS
Conduct and ethics - our library's collection.
A drop down list of recommended reading that focus
on the topic of conduct and ethics is found on the
library homepage under Lists or by using this link.
Contact the library to borrow any of these books.
Human values and ethics in the
workplace (Book)
Glenn Martin’s book describes a
framework of human values as the
foundation for addressing ethics in the
workplace.
Please contact the library to borrow a copy of the
book.
Social Media: The new frontier (Journal article)
Crisis Response, December 2016
Ludovic Blay and Patrick Lagadec describe how a
volunteer network in France is helping the emergency
authorities to embrace social media for emergency
management.
Please contact the library to request a copy of the article.
Using tweets to support disaster planning,
warning and response (Journal article)
Safety science, Vol 90, December 2016
Twitter is increasingly of interest as a social media
that can be used to help mitigate disasters. In this
paper, we describe the strength and limitations of
Twitter in this context, and identify the features
needed in a twitter system to support disaster
planning, warning and response.
Please contact the library to request a copy of the article.
MENTAL HEALTH
Mental Health and You - our library's collection.
A drop down list of a selection of books that focus on
the topic of mental health is found on the library
homepage under Lists or by using this link.
Contact the library to borrow any of these books.
On death and dying : what the dying have to teach
doctors, nurses, clergy & their own families (Book)
The five stages of grief, first formulated in this hugely
influential work, are now part of our common
understanding of loss. Ideal for all those with
an interest in bereavement, this classic text
is reissued with a new introduction looking at
its influence on contemporary thought and
practice.
Please contact the library to borrow this book.
METEOROLOGY
The title link provided below allows NSW RFS Staff to
open the eBook directly when at work. Volunteers
and for those wishing to use the eBooks at home,
please contact the library for a password-embedded
link.
Climate change : What everyone needs to
know (eBook)
This book offers the most up-to-date
examination of climate change's foundational
science, its implications for our future, and the
core clean energy solutions. Alongside
ECOLOGY
Tree-bark thickness indicates fire-resistance in a
hotter future (Online article)
Princeton University, Science Daily,January 2017
A new study has found that trees worldwide develop
thicker bark when they live in fire-prone areas. The
findings suggest that bark thickness could help predict
which forests and savannas will survive a warmer
climate in which wildfires are expected to increase in
frequency.
Please use this Science Daily link to access the
report.
GENERAL
Victory at Villers-Bretonneux : why a French
town will never forget the Anzacs (Book)
Peter Fitzsimmons relates the events On
Anzac Day 1918, when the town of VillersBretonneux falls to the British defenders, it is the
Australians who are called on to save the day, the
town, and the entire battle.
Please contact the library to borrow this book.
HEALTH AND SAFETY
Fire fighter safety and survival (Book)
Fire Fighter Safety and Survival is an US
guide designed to keep fire fighters safe
from the many hazards they will face onthe-job. Developed around the 16
Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives, this textbook
provides scores of real-life examples from the fire
service and other high-risk industries to illustrate the
dangers of fire fighting.
Please contact the library to borrow this book.
The fast diet (Book)
In this fully updated and expanded edition
for 2015, Dr Michael Mosley and Mimi
Spencer revisit the health phenomenon of
the decade, the radical new approach to
weight loss and started a worldwide health revolution,
intermittent fasting and the 5:2 programme.
Please contact the library to borrow this book.
Don’t forget the library also has copies of
Dr Michael Mosley’s book Fast Exercise
available for loan.
The great Aussie bloke slim-down (Book)
Ever struggled with your weight? Or did
you stop struggling years ago and let the pies win?
Peter FitzSimons has been there and eaten that. In
The Great Aussie Bloke Slim-Down, he will lead you
through the fads that failed him, the diets that died fast
and left him furious, and the ways his waistline kept
the belt industry in business.
detailed but highly accessible descriptions of what is
causing climate change, this entry in the What Everyone
Needs to Know series answers questions about the
practical implications of this growing force on our world.
Please close the eBook when you have finished with it to
allow other readers to open it.
VOLUNTEER MANAGEMENT
The changing landscape of disaster volunteering:
opportunities, responses and gaps in Australia
(Journal article)
Natural Hazards, Volume 84, 2016.
There is a growing expectation that volunteers will
have a greater role in disaster management in the
future compared to the past. This is driven largely by
a growing focus on building resilience to disasters.
This paper considers implications of this changing
landscape for the resilience agenda in disaster
management, with a focus on Australia.
Please contact the library to request a copy of the article.
Summer Opening Hours in the Library
The librarian, Katie, will be away and the library
closed to the public from Saturday, 21st January until
Monday, 30th January, 2017. The library is still open
for NSW RFS members to use. Please leave details
of books borrowed in the book on the middle desk or
email details to [email protected]
Borrowing books
Your NSW RFS Library
catalogue is online. It is easy
to search. The collection
holds books, DVDs and
training publications.
The library also has an
eBook collection for all NSW
RFS Members.
Contact NSW RFS Library for
further assistance.
More than loans...
Your NSW RFS Library
subscribes to numerous
journals and online databases.
These include EBSCO, Emerald
and Australian Standards.
These are available to NSW
RFS Staff at work.
Contact NSW RFS Library for
further assistance.
Improve your search!
Your NSW RFS Library is able
to search for material relating to
your topic of research. TOCs
may be set up for your favourite
journal. The librarian also
provides training in information
literacy for using our online
resources.
Contact NSW RFS Library for
further assistance.
Your Librarian
Katie Vandine
Phone: 02 8741 5455
Email: [email protected]