Library Guides: Information Technology: -Find Standards

Need a Standard?

Are you looking for a standard for your research or projects that we currently do not have? We may be able to help! Please email rhorlick@tulane.edu and provide the title of the standard, the organization or agency that owns the standard, the standard code, as well the class name.

Finding Standards

Whereas information pertaining to the name and number of the standard is fairly easy to locate, finding and accessing the full text of a standard may be a difficult task. This is because standards can be classified as:

Propriety - For internal or private use (e.x., standards to follow within a company). Virtual impossible to locate.
By Consensus- Created by a standards developing organization (ex., ASTM, ASME, IEE). These standards are usually very expensive. Creating standards is a lengthy and costly process. The purchase of a written standard goes towards the cost of writing said standard
Governmental - Created by federal government agencies (e.x., FDA, DOT). Often freely available to the public. Assigned by regulating code of that governing body

Standards.gov
Standards.Gov offers background materials and useful links for locating information about the use of standards in government. The primary focus is on federal agency use of standards for regulatory purposes.
NSSN.org - ANSI
Considered the most comprehensive standards search engine with over 300,000 records from organizations accredited by ANSI (the American national standards institute), government agencies, industries, and international organizations
Free Standards
From NIST. Either free to everyone or fee to members.
ANSI (American National Standards Institute)
ANSI is a non-profit organization that issues accreditation for standards developers and facilitates the development of standards by those organizations. ANSI is the official U.S. representative to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers)
IEEE Standards Association
IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) is a leading standards developer, with 1,300 industry standards in a broad range of technologies.
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
ISO (International Organization for Standardization)
Largest developer and publisher of international standards.
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international community that develops open standards to ensure the long-term growth of the Web.
AAMI (Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation)
Produce standards, recommended Practices, and technical information reports for medical devices.
IHS/Global Standards Store

Locating Standards via Library Databases

ASTM Standards and Engineering Digital Library
Full Text! provides online, campus-wide access to all 13,000 ASTM standards as well as manuals, monographs, data series, selected technical papers, and journals, including back issues going back 30-40yrs. SEDL covers a range of engineering disciplines, including aerospace, biomedical, chemical, civil, environmental, geological, health and safety, industrial, materials science, mechanical, nuclear, petroleum, soil science, and solar engineering
Form and Style for ASTM Standards
Information on how to read an ASTM standard including how the information is organized.

IEEE Xplore
IEEE Xplore is an online delivery system providing full text access to the world's highest quality technical literature in electrical engineering, computer science, and electronics. Tulane University subscribes to the IEEE All Society Periodicals Package; the Now Foundations & Trends eBooks Library; and Proceedings of the IEEE and Bell Labs Technical Journal.
For a current list of IEEE Explore material that is part of the Tulane University subscription package, check out: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/accessinfo.