General Standards Information
What is a Standard?
Standards establish quality, characteristics, properties or performance requirements of a material,
component, product or service. Designed to be used as a rule, a guideline, or a definition, the
aim is to achieve an optimal degree of consistency or compatibility in a given context. Standards
are established by consensus and approved by a recognized body. These recognized bodies can
represent various geographic, governmental or industry areas. The reputation and reliability of
those who create the standard play a major role its acceptance and adoption.
Identifying and tracking down standards can be a complicated process. A variety of finding
tools are available to aid in the process. The finding tools may also facilitate access to the full
text. Military and government standards are often available at no charge, but standards of other
bodies generally involve a charge.
Primary Finding Tools
- NSSN: A National Resource for Global Standards - ANSI's
search site is a comprehensive database of over 250,000 references to standards from more than
600 developers worldwide.
- International Standards
Organization - Standards Search or Browse - Simple or extended search options as well as
browsing by ICS (International Classification of Standards) fields
- ASSIST - the official source of DoD
specifications and standards, providing comprehensive access to current information associated with
U.S. military and federal specifications and standards in the management of the Defense
Standardization Program (DSP). Full text of some DoD standards.
- IEEE Standards - browse by
number or search by title keyword for standards published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers from 1988 to the present. Full text of standards is included. This source is
available as part of the Marquette subscription to IEEE Xplore.
- Standards Incorporated by Reference (SIBR)
Database, includes the voluntary consensus standards, government unique standards, private
industry standards, and international standards referenced in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)
and those used by U.S. Federal Government Agencies in their procurement activities.
Information about Standards
- Standards.gov - a site maintained by the National
Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), provides background information, tools and
links regardin the use of standards primarily in the federal government. Includes SIBR
database described above
- Standards and Technical Regulations -
a division of NIST, contains a wealth of information about standards
- Guide to Documentary Standards -
25 page guide to the U.S. standards system, organizations involved, types of standards, and
laws and regulations affecting them; in pdf format.
Industry Standards
A voluntary, industry-developed collective agreement that establishes requirements for products,
practices, or operations in a given field of activity. Generally, industry standards are United States
standards unless otherwise noted.
Cross-Industry Standards
- American National Standards Institute (ANSI) - A private,
non-profit organization that has served as administrator and coordinator of the United States private
vector voluntary standardization system for more than 80 years. More than 270 accredited
standards developers representing approximately 200 distinct organizations work cooperatively to
develop voluntary national consensus standards and American National Standards (ANS).
ANSI does not develop standards; it examines standards developed by members and ‘approves’ them
if the development process followed established ANSI procedures. Search using NSSN
- National Information Standards Organization (NISO) -
NISO is a non-profit association accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) that
identifies, develops, maintains, and publishes technical standards to manage information.
- American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) - ASTM
is a not-for-profit organization that provides a forum for the development and publication
of voluntary standards for materials, products, systems and services. The Raynor Reference
collection has a print copy of ASTM Standards (TA401.A64), and new or updated standards can be found
on their website.
Specific Industries
US Military and other Government Standards
Unlike industry standards, which are voluntary, most standards developed by various federal and
state agencies for procedure, compatibility and manufacture, including the military, are mandatory,
especially regarding government contracts and supply.
- National Institute of Standards
and Technology (NIST) - A non-regulatory federal agency within the U.S. Commerce
Department's Technology Administration. NIST's mission is to develop and promote measurement,
standards, and technology to enhance productivity, facilitate trade, and improve the quality of life.
- Standards
Incorporated by Reference (SIBR) Database, includes the voluntary consensus standards,
government unique standards, private industry standards, and international standards referenced in
the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) and those used by U.S. Federal Government Agencies in their
procurement activities. Maintained by Standards.gov
- Department of Defense (DoD) The Defense Standardization
Program is a compreshensive effort to reduce costs and improve operational effectiveness throughout
the DoD. The "Online Specs" link on this page leads you to information on how to
obtain DoD, NATO, other agency and other international standards and specifications.
- Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) While there is not
a specific standards page or database here, the alphabetical list of topics under "standards"
includes links to inforamtion on radation, water quality, waste, and air pollution standards.
- Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
This site contains a database with information about the status of FAA and other military standards
and specifications. There is no full-text available, but information about how to obtain FAA
standards and links to other standards catalogs are provided.
- Department of Energy Through the Office of
Environment, Safety and Health, the Technical Standards Program offers search capabilities for
full-text approved DOE standards.
- Food and Drug Administration (FDA) www.fda.gov/cdhr/sldsprog.html
The Center for Devices and Radiological Health has standards program information, and a searchable
database.
- National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA) standards.nasa.gov The NASA Technical Standards System allows
public access to preffered technical standards products information (some of which is full-text)
for free, though you must register for a User ID and password.
- U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission (NRC) Information about Standards process followed by NRC
- Occupational
Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) links to relevant CFR sections and allows full text search.
International Standards
These standards that are adopted by an international standards organization and made available
to the public. This practice promotes compatibility and enables people to work and build on a common
model regardless of location. The best recognized group that issues these standards is the
International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
Non-US National Standards
Standards of other nations are specific to the commerce, societal and government needs of that
country. While similarities may exist between country standards there are obvious areas
where incompatibilities may exist including language, measurements, etc. that need to taken into
account.
Full Text Sources
There are a variety of online resources for full text of standards including directly from the
developer, but most charge a fee for the full text. MU Libraries subscribe to two sources for
full-text standards information and many U.S. standards are available free through the third
source:
- IEEE Standards - The IEEE Xplore
Library contains full text of IEEE Standards, including superseded standards but not draft standards,
dating from January 1988.
- American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) -
The Raynor Reference collection has a print copy of ASTM Standards (TA401.A64), and new or
updated standards can be obtained online through the librarian at the Information Desk.
- assistdocs.com - Online
source for full text of U.S. military standards. Defense and federal specifications and standards, DoD
adopted non-Government standards, and many other types of Defense Standardization Program (DSP)
documents. This search interface provides more points of access, including full-text search, than the
general ASSIST database quicksearch function. Results are full-text as well.
Other sources for obtaining standards are:
Search Aids and Bibliographic Tips
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