Resources by format

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

Additional Options:

• ASTM: Earlier versions not available in ASTM Compass can be found in print in the Annual book of ASTM standards

• 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*

• NFPA: As an organization they decided to make many standards available for free, but you do need to create an account to access

• 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."

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.