What is a standard?
"A standard is a document that has been prepared, approved, and published by a recognized standards organization, and contains rules, requirements, or procedures for an orderly approach to a specific activity. Standards may include product design requirements, test methods, classifications, recommended practices, and other considerations." (CSA, 2011).
Standards may be municiple, provincial, national, and/or international in scope and are generally developed by governments, not-for-profit organizations, and associations.
Source: Canadian Standards Association. (2011). What is a Standard? Retrieved March 17, 2011 from http://www.csa.ca/cm/ca/en/consumers/frequently-asked-questions
Want to know more about Standards and their history?
Check out this presentation by the Standards Council of Canada.
Standard Search Engines
Not sure what the exact name of the Standard you are looking for?
Check out some of these Standard search engines to find out.
- NSSN - Search Engine for StandardsCreated by the American National Standards Institute
- ASTM - Standards SearchSearch by keyword or number.
Browse by Interest Area or ASTM Committee.
Handbooks
How to find Standards
To determine if the Conestoga College library holds a standard, please try the following:
- For a print standard, search the Conestoga College Library Catalogue by key words, title, or standard number.
Example:
When looking for SAFEGUARDING OF MACHINERY : CSA STANDARD Z432-04
You could search for: Safeguarding of Machinery or Z432-04 or Canadian Standards Association or do a search for "specifications" and the topic for example you could search for bridge specifications
Standards Available Online
- NEW ONLINE! ASTM Standards Online DatabaseAmerican Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) (basic/active) provides access to +12,000 active standards.
- ISO StandardsISO has developed over 18 500 International Standards on a variety of subjects and some 1100 new ISO standards are published every year. The full range of technical fields can be seen from the listing International Standards. Users can browse that listing to find bibliographic information on each standard and, in many cases, a brief abstract. The online ISO Standards listing integrates both the ISO Catalogue of published standards and the ISO Technical programme of standards under development.
- Telecommunications Recommendations - ITU-T RecommendationsThe International Telecommunication Union (ITU)'s Telecommunication Standardization Sector entire database of telecommunications recommendations is available free to the public. The 3000-plus standards are used by global equipment manufacturers, telecommunication network operators and service providers.
- W3C StandardsW3C develops technical specifications and guidelines through a process designed to maximize consensus about the content of a technical report, to ensure high technical and editorial quality, and to earn endorsement by W3C and the broader community.
Selected Holdings of Standards / Codes
Your Liaison |
 Melanie Parlette, BA, MLIS Engineering, IT, Trades and Apprenticeship Library Liaison  Contact Info Library Technical Services, 2B12-1,2 Library Resource Centre Conestoga College T: 519.748.5220 x3605 F: 519.748.3538 Send Email |
Need a Standard we don't have?
Do you need a Standard that the Conestoga LRC doesn't have?
Send inquiries to: Melanie Parlette, Engineering and IT Liaison
Want to keep up to date on Standards?
- Changes to Canadian and International StandardsLearn about changes to Canadian and international standards. Standards Alert! sends an automatic e-mail update about changes to the standards that matter to you.
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