Technical Standards

A standard is an agreed-upon way of doing something. 

• Set specific guidelines for the design, operation, manufacture, and use of nearly everything produced by mankind. 
• Protect human health, safety, and the environment, and others to ensure that different products work compatibly together. 
• Published by organizations that are most relevant to their fields of research and activity. 
• Developed by groups of engineers and other experts who represent the combined expertise of those who have a stake in the technology  including:
  • technical professionals, 
  • companies, 
  • industry groups, 
  • government, 
  • and consumers. 

• Standards Portal offers a directory of Standards Developing Organizations (SDOs) in the US, available at their website.
• To find standards by industry, use this guide by Techstreet

GIF for downloading available standards from Techstreet Enterprise. If not found, please request from the form on the first page.

Print

Tips for Finding Print Standards in Carlson Library.

1. Search DiscoverUR. (Library Homepage)
2. Go to Advanced Search
3. Enter title in blank and select Title search.  Change "contains" to is (exact) ex. Title is (exact) American National Standard for safe use of lasers
4. Then, scroll and click search.
5. Too many results? Try one of these revisions (not all at once)
   1. Add Author as spelled out version of the standard provider name ex. American National Standards Institute
   2. Add publication year range ex. 1992-1994
6. Too Few Results?
   1. Remove title and search a prominent keyword in "Any Field" in combination with author spelled out  ex. Any field contains piping AND Author is (exact) American Society of Mechanical Engineers

Search your topic in these databases to find standards.  These resources only provide the Title and Standard number but not the full text.  

Search many standards providers (aggregators):

Search Individual Standard Providers: