Engineering Research Guide | COAST
Standards
Codes & Building Codes
"A standard is a document, established by consensus that provides rules, guidelines or characteristics for activities or their results. Standards play an important role in everyday life. They may establish size or shape or capacity of a product, process or system...As examples, standards help ensure that film to fit our cameras can be purchased anywhere in the world, that a light bulb fits a socket, and plugs for electrical appliances fit outlests. With standards, our homes, workplaces and public builings are safer from collapse, fire and explosion." taken from American National Standards Institute (ANSI) web site
Standards apply to almost anything including the make up of a manufacturing part, the composition of a chemical compound, or the pipes in our home. And everything in between! Standards are created when an organization writes a standard. The standard then goes has an extensive public evaluation and is revised with input from corporations, manufacturers, engineers and public citizens. The standard may then be adopted by a standards-granting organization (i.e. ASTM, BOCA, ASME, IEEE, ASCE, ASHRAE, PCI, etc.). Over time, standards are updated and old standards are withdrawn.
Standards, because they give very specific details about all sorts of items, are a good source of information about what "should" be. They give insight into the "best practices" of an item or process.
There are a number of national standards organizations that produce standards.
1.) Search the library databases such as Compendex and IEEE Xplore.
2.) Search COAST, WorldCat or other library catalogs. The largest collection of print standards we have is the ASTM standards (Annual Book of ASTM standards, 1st floor Reference TA 401.A653).
3.) Use the free search feature of companies that sell standards as TechStreet Standards, IHS Global Engineering, NSSN.org, World Standards Services Network (WSSN).
4.) Search specific organizations that are likely to produce the standards you are interested in.
Note: Once you find the standard you want, check COAST to see if we have it. If not, email the Science and Engineering Librarian. A specific standard may need to be ordered depending on cost.
A code is a set of rules and specifications for the correct methods and materials used in a certain product, building or process. Codes can be approved by local, state or federal governments and can carry the force of law.
Codes help maintain a "minimum level of acceptable safety". For example, a building code specifies materials and procedures used in construction. Without these codes a building could be unsafe. Other codes include plumbing codes, safety codes, electrical codes, fire codes, health codes and much more. In California, building codes require certain buildings to be reinforced for earthquakes.
Codes, like standards, are developed over time with the input from many groups such as organizations, corporations, manufacturers, private citizens, lobbyists and government officials.
Use COAST to search for codes by keyword or title. Check Link+ to get books from other libraries (After doing your search in COAST, click "Repeat search in Link+" button). Search WorldCat or other library catalogs or book vendors such as Amazon.com. If you find a code that we do not have use Illiad: InterLibrary Loan to get the item in 5-10 days.
