A World Without Standards
Finding Codes
Understanding Standards
Educational resources to better understand standards and how to use them:
About Standards & Codes
- Standards are documents that provide "technical specifications or other criteria that a product, process or service must meet. Standards provide information to consumers, manufacturers and retailers, and enhance safety, reliability and performance of the products, processes and services consumers use" (SCC).
- Standards that are incorporated into law or government regulations are often referred to as Codes.
- Organizations that develop standards are called standards development organization (SDOs). These organizations can be companies government agencies, or committees. For more information, see Standards Council of Canada's guide on Standards Systems.
- For a list of domestic and international standardization bodies, see the Society of Standards Professionals.
Standards Databases
- ASTM Compass This link opens in a new windowASTM
Includes the 80+ volume Annual Book of ASTM Standards, as well as the ASTM journals.
Permitted Uses - CSA OnDemand This link opens in a new windowCanadian Standards Association Group
Provides access to the standards collection from the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) Group, in English and French, for current and historical standards.
Permitted Uses - IEEE Xplore Digital Library This link opens in a new windowAll IEEE journals, transactions, and magazines, as well as the proceedings from 125 IEEE conferences, over 1000 ebooks from MIT and Wiley-IEEE Press, as well as all active IEEE standards.
Permitted Uses - Techstreet This link opens in a new windowCustom collection of CSA and ISO standards publishers. To request a standard or code for electronic access, please submit a ticket to the Library Helpdesk..
Note: The FileOpen plugin is required to view CSA documents from Techstreet. If the file does not open immediately, check the Downloads folder for a PDF copy. For any troubleshooting issues, submit a ticket to the Library Helpdesk..
