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Standards

Definition: Standards may be defined as documented, sanctioned or approved agreements. These documents serve as examples giving precise criteria for consistent use, as rules or guidelines, to ensure that any given material, product or service fulfills its purpose effectively. Standards provide reference points against which similar matters may be compared and measured.

Online sources of Standards

Scope: information and links to online sources of various Standards and Standard bodies. Often organisations' catalogues can be searched and sometimes the full text of standards is available.

Acronym Organisation Notes
AAMI Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation
  • information on medical instrumentation and technology, and relevant national and international standards
  • browse Standards via the “publications” heading or use the 'Search Standards' link for a guided search screen
  • selecting a result will give price, abstract or scope, type of standard (e.g. ISO, AAMI, etc.) and in some cases more information
ANSI American National Standards Institute
  • browse standards publishers (e.g. ISO, IEC, and many more) from the drop-down lists on left; or
  • select the 'eStandards Store' link for documents in Adobe Acrobat PDF format only; no hard copy available
  • options include searching for a particular standard by Standards number or keyword
  • results give number, title, abstract or scope, file size and price
ASTM American Society for Testing and Materials Note: the library holds a number of print sets of Annual book of ASTM standards
  • Select the 'Standards' option at the top of the list on the left. Search by number or keywords; or browse by subject area, ASTM Committee, or alphanumeric listing.
  • Selecting individual results will give title, designation, scope note and index terms along with the volume in which the print standard appears (in HAL at 600.78 A512)
  • Cost (US dollars) and ordering information are provided; standards, in PDF format, may be downloaded using credit card facilities
BSI British Standards Institution
  • Standards may be browsed by sector, discipline or the entire catalogue may be browsed.
  • Go to “BSI Shop” to search by designation or keyword
  • After browsing, or running a search, results may be refined by discipline, industry sector, status and other parameters.
  • Initial results will give full name, designation, cost for pdf and status.
  • Selecting a result will give bibliographic details including full name, designation, status, alternative titles, and if the standard is available in hardcopy.
IEC International Electrotechnical Commission
  • From the “web store search” icon, there are a number of standard related options, one being to search and buy standards online. (Opens in separate window.)
  • Alternatively there is a ‘quick link” to search the web store at the bottom left of the screen.
  • Simple and advance searchoptions (by header – standard body, committee and subject code) available.
  • Results include reference, edition, date, technical committee, title, pdf preview of first pages, cost and format.
  • Selecting a result will give details including availability and format (also language), cost in Swiss francs and a short abstract.
IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc
  • From the 'Standards' tab at the top of the screen, select the “buy standards” link in the ribbon. Or, click on the “Purchase standards” option on right.
  • Designation or keywords may be entered in the “ Search the IEEE shop” box
  • Results include title and designation, alternative formats (e.g. pdf , print on demand), date, price.
  • Individual results include the above information along with a brief description. Note is made if the standard has been superseded.
  • Monash staff and students may obtain full text standards via IEEE Xplore
ISO International Organization for Standardization
  • A basic search may be run from the search option (top right) on the home page. For more searching options (including advanced search), click on “search” without entering anything in the search box.
  • Results include title and designation, format, Status (date of withdrawal given), date, language and cost (Swiss Franc).
  • Individual results also include abstracts, any corrigenda, amendments etc., and suggestions of other possibly relevant standards.
  • ISO standards may also be searched via Standards On-line Premium (Monash only). Requests may be made for ISO standards to be 'unlocked'
ITU International Telecommunication Union - Telecommunication Standardization Sector
NISO National Information Standards Organization
  • select Standards tab, and “search NISO standards”
  • Standard may be browsed or search by designation, title, name or status (“state”)
  • Results give designation, title, status and link to more details, where PDF's may be downloaded for free, and hard copies may be purchased.
SA Standards Australia International Ltd. Note: Monash staff and students may access the full text of Australian Standards via Standards on-line premium. Standards may be searched by number or keyword. This collection is updated weekly. The full text PDF of standards may be viewed, printed or saved. When using 'Standards on-line premium' you are urged to:
  • note the licence and copyright conditions; and
  • 'logoff' when you have completed your task.
  • there are a number of alternative methods to search for Australian, ISO and IEC standards from the initial Standards Australia page.
    • The 'Power Search' allows more flexible searching parameters.
    • when results are displayed, clicking on the title will give summary information including price and status
    • standards may then be downloaded or a hardcopy ordered for a fee from Standards Australia
  • On the public site, use the "search Australian standards and other publications" search box.
SAE Society of Automotive Engineers Note: the SAE Handbook is held in the Hargrave-Andrew Library
  • use the search box to search the entire SAE site for all SAE's publications including standards and specifications, or limit search to standards.
  • Use the 'Advanced Search' option to conduct more precise searches.
  • Search results give designation, title, committee, date and a brief description.
  • Individual results will give the document number, date, title, issuing committee, scope, file size and price. Information on ordering and method of delivery (post, fax or download) is also given.
SNZ Standards New Zealand
  • Use the Search option on the right hand side of the screen to search for Standards by name, keyword or number, (prefixes are not required)
  • Results give designation, title and status.
  • Individual titles will give additional information e.g. brief history (if applicable), status, abstract and price
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
  • the entire UNESCO site may be searched from the first page. However, items of a 'standard' nature may be found under the Legal Instruments section.
  • the Documentation Resources section offers an effective Advanced Search option to search UNESCO documents and publications.
WHO-OMS World Health Organization
  • All WHO pages may be searched using the 'Search' box at the top of the page.
  • Results vary depending on the type of document retrieved, e.g. publication, report or recommendation.
  • After an initial search is run, there is an option to run an "advanced search", including limiting search to WHO publications.
WIPO World Intellectual Property Organization
  • Covers various aspects of intellectual property from copyright to patents at the international level
  • Use the 'Resources' option in the header to search or browse e-bookshop, free publications and other documents.
  • Alternatively, links on left of home page lead to further searching and browsing facilities; e.g. patents and trademarks.

Related information:

  • IHS Australia (Information Handling Services Group Australia) - major vendor of Australian and other standards
  • NSSN (National Resource for Global Standards), produced by ANSI - bibliographic information for over 225,000 international and national standards (U.S. focus)
  • WSSN (World Standards Services Network) - entry point to a network of WWW servers of worldwide standards organizations; also contains information about standards and standardization
  • SAI Global InfoStore (http://infostore.saiglobal.com/store/) may be used to purchase (or search for) Australian and other standards.
  • Non-Monash individuals may visit the State Library of Victoria to access the “Standards on-line premium” and other related databases (Standards and Codes Of Practice):
  • A list of all databases available at the State Library of Victoria is also available.

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