What is a standard?

A standard is an official document developed by a recognized body, which sets criteria for developments in technical fields. Standards that are incorporated into law or government regulations are often referred to as codes. To view lists of standards published by standards organizations, see Standards Organizations' catalogues.

There are several types of standards:

performance standards
prescriptive standards
design standards
management system standards
service standards
(Standards Council of Canada, 2024)

Standard numbers

Standard numbers may include some or all of the following information, appearing in order from left to right (e.g., ISO/IEC 8859-1: 1998):

ratifying body (e.g., ISO)
developing body (e.g., IEC)
number (e.g. 8859)
part number (e.g., 1)
year developed (e.g., 1998)
year renewed (not given)

Standards search engines

EI Compendex: The essential engineering database, primarily for journal articles and conference papers, indexes 220,000+ technical standard records from 12 standard development organizations, such as AIAA, ACI, ASCE, ASTM, IEEE, IET, ISO, SAE.
Accuris (formerly IHS): The site provides a powerful search engine to standards, with the information on whether a particular standard has been superseded or revised recently.
CSA Group: The developing body for CSA standards. Its online store provides "browse by publisher," "browse by subject area," and search box for standards and codes. It indexes technical standard records from ASME, ASTM, CSA, IEC, ISO, NRC, etc.

Finding standards

Simon Fraser University (SFU)

SFU researchers have access to:

Canadian electrical code, part 1 : safety standard for electrical installations [print]
Electrical code simplified. Book 1, Residential [print]
Electrical code simplified. Book 2 : commercial & industrial [print]
Full text of current IEEE standards from the IEEE Xplore
Full text of current SAE standards from SAE Mobilus
Canadian General Standards Board (SFU depository collection)

In addition, the SFU Library may hold individual standards from various standards bodies. Search the SFU Library catalogue to locate individual standards

Via Techstreet, a vendor who provides individual standards on demand, SFU Library students, faculty, and staff have electronic access to selected standards from the following bodies:

CSA (Canadian Standards Association)
IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission)
ISO (International Organization for Standardization)
ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials)

Note: Techstreet standards are in .pdf format and are encrypted. To view standards via Techstreet you must install the FileOpen plugin and open the standard with Adobe Reader. Mac users need to use a browser other than Safari.

Standards can generally be found in the library catalogue by entering the organization and the standard number (eg "ISO 10218-1") or the title of the standard (eg, "Robots and robotic devices - Safety requirements for industrial robots - Part 1: Robots"). However, it is best to double check the Techstreet database because some standards contain multiple components that are separate purchases.

Elsewhere in the Greater Vancouver area

British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT)

The BCIT Library subscribes to standards from several publishers, including CSA, ASTM, and select ASHRAE. Individual titles of standards are listed in the BCIT Library catalogue (use the Advanced Keyword Search and indicate STANDARDS under Material Type).

University of British Columbia (UBC)

See UBC Library: Standards for details about the standards collection at UBC.

Vancouver Public Library (VPL)

Vancouver Public Library (VPL) collects standards and has one of the largest collections of technical standards in the province. Phone VPL's general phone number 604-331-3603 for assistance in locating a standard and to verify that a particular standard is in the collection. Note that many standards are not listed in VPL's catalogue.

Guide to technical standards

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