The Charles S. Morgan Technical Library houses the NFPA archives and resources on fire research, prevention, and suppression and the promotion of life and building safety. The collection reflects the interests and activities of members, committees and NFPA staff. Resource materials collected from national and international sources include 25,000+ books and reports, 200 periodical titles, and educational media including DVDs, curricula, videos, games, and brochures. NFPA archives include all published NFPA documents dating from the Association's founding in 1896, including editions of all NFPA and most NBFU codes and standards.
Catalog
The library’s online catalog allows you to identify the items held by the NFPA library and selective materials in the NFPA archives. The catalog provides access to bibliographic records of books, reports, conference proceedings, journal titles, audiovisual materials, and curricula. Some standards and journal articles are included in this catalog, however most are not. If you do not find what you are looking for, please contact the library to see if the item you are looking for is in our uncataloged collection.
The NFPA Library is a research library for NFPA staff and visitors. Materials are not available for loan except to staff and through affiliated interlibrary loan networks. Materials tagged as "restricted access" may only be viewed in the library and may not be photocopied in part or in whole.
Archives
The NFPA archives (PDF, 29 KB) houses all of NFPA’s publications, both current and historic. Collections include such items as NFPA codes, Fire Prevention Week Posters, photographs from famous fires, fire investigation reports, Technical Committee Reports and NFPA Directories. The Archives also has a large collection of codes, annual reports, and other publications produced by the National Board of Fire Underwrites. Most NFPA publications are searchable in the library catalog.
NFPA Journal
Researchers looking for older issues of the NFPA Journal can request articles from the library.
Fire investigations
The library houses extensive files of investigation reports, photographs, and newspaper clippings of major fires. While some files are restricted, researchers can request to see these files in the library, or librarians can research the files on request.
Non-NFPA codes
The library maintains a collection of non-NFPA codes and standards which are mostly uncatalogued. The collection includes documents by agencies such as ANSI, BOCA, UL, SBCCI and ASTM. They are currently arranged by issuing body, standard number and date.