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Standards: Basics for Locating Standards

How are Standards Labeled?

What does a citation to a standard look like? A standard is identified by a number and title. The number is alpha-numeric, consisting of an acronym that which identifies the standards organization, a number, and possibly a year which identifies the year of adoption. For example: IEEE Std 1801-2009: IEEE Standard for Design and Verification of Low Power Integrated Circuits. 1801 is the number and 2009 is the year of adoption. IEEE is the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.             

Basics for Locating Standards

  1. Confirm the standard number including the acronym and title by searching Google, or a standards search engine like the IHS Standards Store. Assume you are looking for ISO 2371. A search of Google shows the following from the ISO website: ISO 2371:1974 - Field balancing equipment -- Description and evaluation
  2. Search this library guide. a) On this guide, look for the respective acronym (on one of the tabs to a page) which corresponds to the needed standard and study the respective page if found, for an indication of a print or electronic index and the availability of full text in the print or electronic format. If a page is found, search for any indication of a print or electronic index and the availability of full text in print or electronic format.
  3. Search the library catalog for an individual standard. This assumes the standard is indexed in the catalog. From the Library homepage, select Catalog Basic, select "Title search": (the default is keyword):search with the standard number including the acronym ISO 2371 if that fails, search by standard title “Field balancing equipment – Description and evaluation." If nothing is found, contact the engineering librarian.
  4. If the Library does not own the standard, it is very unlikely that Interlibrary Services will be able to obtain the standard, due to licensing restrictions. 
  5. Let the Library know of your interest in a standard. This helps build the case for future purchasing decisions. No guarantees, unfortunately.