Engineering Library Reference Manual
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- Navigate this page:
- Why are standards important
- Standards vs. Regulations vs. Specifications
- Why are the standards not in the Libraries Catalog
- Why do we have only the most recent edition of each standard
- What do we do with our older standards
- Why do libraries not lend standards
- Standards requested by current UW Faculty, Student, and Staff
- U.S. Industry Standards vs. Foreign and International Standards
- Common U.S. Standards Organizations
Standardshttp://www.lib.washington.edu/engineering/standards/What are Standards?Standards are called a variety of things: standards, specifications, etc. Short definition: either minimum or optimum requirements. What are the different types of standards? These are all documents with that lay out a set of standard guidelines for a particular industry: Standard Terminology, Basic Standards (minimum requirements), Standard Practices, Interoperability standards, Performance and Safety Standards, Material Specifications, Process Specifications, Testing and Inspection Standards, Product Standards. Why are standards important?They help maintain international competitiveness, promote quality products and operational reliability, save time and money, increase credibility and responsiveness to public concerns, conserve capital resources, reduce risk and improve safety, avoid production delays, streamline training, respond to customers and markets, and offer expertise. At the national level, the U.S. Standardization community currently maintains more than 94,000 standards in an active status. The private sector has prepared more than 40% of this total. Standards vs. Regulations vs. SpecificationsStandards: Concepts that have been established by authority, custom, or agreement to serve as a model or rule in the measurement of quantity or the establishment of a practice or procedure. Terminology standardization enables the standardizing process to go forward by establishing a terminological framework for more precise communicatIon. Industry standards are voluntary and are produced by the private sector. Regulations: A rule prescribed for the management of some matter, or for the regulating of conduct; a governing precept or direction; a standing rule. Regulations are mandated by law. They are part of the government and regulatory sector. Specification: A detailed description of the particulars of some projected work in building, engineering, or the like, giving the dimensions, materials, quantities, etc. of the work, together with directions to be followed by the builder or constructor. Why are the standards not in the Libraries Catalog?Because the nature of standards themselves. They are updated periodically, but with no set pattern; they often have multiple designations; titles vary from one edition to the next. It would be a cataloging nightmare to add and delete records so frequently. Why do we have only the most recent edition of each standard?We maintain a collection of recent standards because that is what our patrons normally require. (Storage space is also an issue.) Most of our UW patrons need the current standard in effect. However, law firms generally need older standards when doing case work where they need to know what standard that was in effect at the time the action occurred. What do we do with our older standards?We send our out-of-date standards to the central Seattle Public Library. They are kept in the Business and Technology Section. Have patrons call SPL directly to see if that library has a particular standard. Why are standards so expensive?Standards are very expensive to produce. Committees work on them for a substantial period of time. When you purchase a standard you are not only paying for a copy, but also paying for the cost of creating the contents of the standard. Why do libraries not lend standards?Standards are too expensive to replace. Our collection is library use only, as are many other libraries’. Most libraries will not lend standards through ILL. Often the only way to obtain a standard is to purchase it. The most comprehensive source for standards is Global Engineering Documents: http://global.ihs.com . Standards are protected by copyright: You cannot legally copy a standard from cover to cover because it is protected by copyright. ILL will not copy an entire standard for customers. Standards requested by current UW Faculty, Student, and Staff:If a UW affiliated patron is looking for a standard that is not too expensive (roughly around $100 or so) we will generally order a copy for our collection. The patron will be informed upon receipt of the item and will be allowed first use (in library only). However, patrons often need more than one standard or an entire collection, which we cannot purchase due to the high costs. ISO Standards in particular, are usually quite expensive. We have only a handful of ISOs in our collection. The ANSI and other American standards that we have come on a standing order profiled through Global Engineering Documents. We reduced the number of standards we receive as part of the serials cancellation project several years ago. If a UW affiliate requests that we order a standard, take down their name, e-mail, UW status and the standard info and give it to Julie or Christina. They may also e-mail their request to englib@u. Non-affiliates have Global or other vendors as an option. (See our website: http://www.lib.washington.edu/engineering/standards/web.html ) Patrons working on a grant should be able to justify the cost of the standards. The best plan is to have them contact Global Engineering Documents or the suppliers below.
AA Aluminum Association http://www.aluminum.org AAMA American Automobile Manufacturers Association ANSI American National Standards Institute. Coordinates the U.S. private sector development of standards. Participates in ISO and IEC, and interfaces with non-governmental international and regional standards organizations. http://www.ansi.org ASHRAE American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning Engineers http://www.ashrae.org ASME American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME Bs, ASME BPVC) http://www.asme.org/codes ASTM American Society for Testing and Materials. Annual Book (older ones upstairs at the same call number) http://www.astm.org AWWA American Waterworks Association http://www.awwa.org/awwastds.htm EIA Electronic Industries Association www.eia.org/technology IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. (IEEE Cs) http://standards.ieee.org/ NBS National Bureau of Standards. Changed name to NIST(see below) NEMA National Electrical Manufacturers Association http://www.nema.org/standards/ NFPA National Fire Protection Association. (National fire code) http://www.nfpa.org/Codes/index.html NISO National Information Standards Organization http://www.niso.org NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology. (formerly NBS, National Bureau of Standards). A non-regulatory agency in the Department of Commerce. Custodian of the nation’s primary metrology standards and manager of the country’s calibration system. http://www.nist.gov SAE Society of Automotive Engineers. http://www.sae.org/technicalcommittees/index.htm UL Underwriters Laboratory http://www.ul.com/info/standard.htm Download 0.59 Mb. Share with your friends:
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