Resources by format
Here are listed guides for finding materials based on their formats.
License
All original content on this page is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. 3rd-party content including, but not limited to images and linked items, are subject to their own license terms. 
We have access to many standards online or in our print collection. Any standards not part of our collections can be requested through interlibrary loan. If you are an instructor, be sure to check out this recent (and free) ebook on standards too - Teaching and Collecting Technical Standards:
A Handbook for Librarians and Educators.
Ordering standards
Standards not available from the sources below will be ordered and paid for by the library. The following guidelines apply:
- In general, you should request the item through Interlibrary Loan, using the special standards button on the ILL request page, BUT,
- If you want the item placed on Reserve, please place your order through your college librarian so the item can be added to the library collection.
- Most of the time the standard will become your property, but the library retains the right to place any purchased item in the collection.
- Only faculty and grad students may request standards.
- Limits of $1,000 / requester / calendar year will apply
Available Standards
- ASABE Technical LibraryThe ASABE Technical Library contains the full text of conference proceedings, meeting papers, journals, standards, and technical papers of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (PDF and HTML). Some books and textbooks are also available (each chapter is a separate PDF).
- ASCE LibraryThe ASCE Library contains the full text of journals (from 1983), conference papers (from 2000), standards (current and historical), and ebooks.
- ASTM CompassASTM Compass is the portal for the ASTM full-text standards, technical engineering reports, journals, manuals, ebooks, and data series. These materials cover a wide range of engineering disciples: aerospace, biomedical, chemical, civil, environmental, geological, health and safety, industrial, materials science, mechanical, nuclear, petroleum, soil science, and solar engineering. The site includes all current issues and backfiles of all ASTM journals, all symposia papers (published in book format as Special Technical Publications), and all ASTM manuals and monographs. The library also includes current and historical ASTM standards. 1931-present.
- IEEE XploreIEEE Xplore contains full text documents from IEEE and IEE journals, transactions, magazines, ebooks, letters, conference proceedings, standards, and IET (Institution of Engineering and Technology) publications. Full text content is provided as PDFs.Full-text journals back to 1884, conference proceedings back to 1951.
- Knovel LibraryKnovel provides a large collection of ebooks on engineering and related subjects. Each chapter is presented as a separate PDF. The entire collection is full-text searchable, and many results include interactive tables. Includes tables of properties for over 13,000 chemical compounds. Knovel is also searchable through the Engineering Village interface.
- MADCADMADCAD provides searchable, full-text access to building codes, design and evaluation standards, and technical bulletins. Content includes materials from organizations such as ASCE, ASHRAE, ASME, ASTM, FEMA, and SMACNA, as well as legacy codes from BOCA, SBCCI, ICBO, and current codes from the International Code Council (ICC). The database also contains selected state and international codes, such as Virginia state codes, available in HTML and PDF formats.
- SAE MobilusOur subscription provides online access to technical papers from 1906-present, Ground Vehicle Standards, SAE ebooks, and STAPP Car Crash proceedings.
Additional Options:
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ASTM: Earlier versions not available in ASTM Compass can be found in print in the Annual book of ASTM standards
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ISO/IEC: Sometimes ISO or IEC standards can be requested via ANSI's education program (use the contact on that page), otherwise must be requested via the ILL form above*
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NFPA: As an organization they decided to make many standards available for free, but you do need to create an account to access
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Other organizations: try this 2022 list from NIST for more free standards options
*Per ANSI: "As the U.S. member body of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), ANSI has been authorized to provide, upon request, complimentary access for students and faculty to selected standards currently available in the ISO collection. Certain standards from the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) may also be made available upon request. These collections are comprised of nearly 20,000 standards, which can be made available to U.S. faculty and students in all disciplines in institutions of higher learning throughout the United States."
Searchable standards indexes
In general, full-text standards are not available free on the Web. The following links provide information on standards, as well as searchable indexes.
- AccurisTech
- Global commercial provider of many, many standards.
- ANSI - American National Standards Institute
- This is the coordinating body for standards in the U.S.
- ASME Codes and Standards
- Sponsored by ASME, this site offers information on mechanical engineering related standards.
- IEEE Standards Association (IEEE SA)
- Info about IEEE standards, the IEEE standards process, and the status of IEEE standards.
- ISO - International Standardization Organization
- Information about ISO, as well as a searchable catalog.
- ITU - International Telecommunication Union
- List of standards currently in force, as well as forthcoming recommendations.
- National Institute of standards and Technology (NIST)
- Affiliated with the U.S. Department of Commerce, primarily concerned with measurement standards.
- NISO - National Information Standards Organization
- Provides standards about information retrieval, metatdata, etc. in free PDF format online!
- OSHA - Occupational Safety and Health Administration
- A searchable resource of OSHA related standards and regulations.
- UL Standards - Underwriters Laboratories
- UL standards adopted by the American National standards Institute. Individual standards are listed under Underwriters' Laboratories as a corporate author. Select standards of safety are also available.
- W3C - World Wide Web Consortium
- W3C contributes to efforts to standardize Web technologies by producing specifications (called "recommendations") that describe the building blocks of the Web, such as HTML and XML.