LibGuides: Engineering &amp; Applied Science Research Guide: Standards, Patents, & Technical Reports

Locating Technical Documents

Locating technical documents--standards, codes, patents, trademarks, handbooks, and more--is often a challenge.

There is no single place where all technical documents can be searched for and located.
They are produced by a wide variety of organizations, corporations, and government agencies.
Sometimes they're available freely online, but often they are only available on a proprietary database, or for a fee from a company.

We've done our best to gather the most likely sources for standards and technical documents here, but if you are struggling to find a document you need, please contact the Engineering Librarian, Nicole, at gustavsen@gonzaga.edu.

Standards and Codes

ASTM Compass: Standards and Engineering Digital Library
ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) Compass provides access to voluntary consensus technical standards for a wide range of materials, products, systems, and services, as well as access to a number of engineering journals, manuals and monographs, selected technical papers and reports, and data series.
IEEE Standards Online
Standards from the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers database.

IBR Standards Portal (American National Standards Institute)
ANSI IBR provides read-only access to standards that have been incorporated by reference in the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). Available standards include those developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), and select others.
U.S. Department of Energy Technical Standards Program
The home for current and superseded technical standards, handbooks, and other documents produced by the USDOE's Technical Standards Program.
ASSIST (U.S. Department of Defense)
The official source for specifications and standards used by the Department of Defense. Documents include specifications and standards, military handbooks, commercial item descriptions, data item descriptions, and related technical documents prepared in accordance with the Defense Standardization Program.
International Standardization Organization: Publicly Available Standards
ISO is required, in accordance with a number of agreements with other standards organizations, to make certain standards openly accessible to the public. These standards can be found at this link.

International Building Code by International Code Council; Building Officials and Code Administrators International; International Conference of Building Officials; Southern Building Code Congress International
Call Number: K3538 A15 I5 (1st Floor Reference Collection)

Publication Date: 2018
Washington Manufacturers Register by Washington (State). Department of Commerce and Economic Development.; Washington (State). Department of Trade and Economic Development
Call Number: T12 M365

Publication Date: 1978 - present

5 most recent years available in 1st Floor Reference. Older editions in the 3rd floor stacks.
National Electrical Safety Code by American National Standards Institute. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
Call Number: TK260 .N39 (1st Floor Reference)

Publication Date: 2017

The library maintains a subscription, with older editions going back to 1973 in the 3rd floor stacks.

Patents and Trademarks

US Patent & Trademark Office: Search for Patents
The USPTO is charged by the US government with issuing patents to inventors and businesses, and issues trademark registration for product and intellectual property identification. This page provides guidance on how to search for US patents and a selection of places to search.
Washington State Patent & Trademark Resource Center @ UW Libraries
The University of Washington Engineering Library is the designated Patent and Trademark Resource Center for Washington State. Online patent and trademark resources are available from this page, and the UWEL may be contacted during reference hours for assistance using these tools. Note: they cannot conduct any research on your behalf or provide legal advice.

Technical Reports

National Technical Reports Library
A product of the US Department of Commerce, the NTRL is a public, openly accessible means of disseminating federally-funded scientific, technical, engineering, and business information.
TRAIL: Technical Report Archive & Image Library
TRAIL identifies, acquires, catalogs, digitizes and provides unrestricted access to U.S. government agency technical reports.

A Practical Guide to Technical Reports and Presentations for Scientists, Engineers, and Students by Khan; Pauline Bary-Kahn; Elizabeth Hildinger; Erik Hildinger
Call Number: T11 .B379 2010 (1st Floor Reference)

ISBN: 9780558781811

Publication Date: 2010-09-12

Open Access, Free, and Low-Cost Standards

Standards can be hard to get access to. They aren't all available through the library, you can't usually get them through Interlibrary Loan, and many of them are very expensive. Listed here are a number of ways that selected standards can be accessed for free or at a low cost. Some of these tools are difficult to navigate, so if you have any questions please contact your librarian, Nicole.

IBR Standards Portal
"Incorporated By Reference" (IBR) is a product of ANSI and the Federal Government of the United States that provides access to standards that have been incorporated by reference in the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). These standards are available in "read only" format, and can't be downloaded or printed.
W3C Web Standards
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is the main international standards organization for the world wide web. They are committed to publishing their standards and accompanying documents on an open platform so that everyone can use them.
OASIS Open
The Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) is an international non-profit consortium dedicated to developing open standards for information technology and computing and advancing open source technology, including cybersecurity, blockchain, and Internet of Things.

Engineering & Applied Science Research Guide

For Your Reference

Locating Technical Documents

Standards and Codes

Patents and Trademarks

Technical Reports

Open Access, Free, and Low-Cost Standards