How to find standards in the Library
A standard is a "a document that provides requirements, specifications, guidelines or characteristics that can be used consistently to ensure that materials, products, processes and services are fit for their purpose" (ISO: 2015).
Any standard is a collective work, drawn up by a committee of manufacturers, users, research organizations, government departments and consumers working together.
We use standards to achieve a level of safety, quality and consistency in products and processes.
Finding standards
- Standards available in the Library
- Obtaining standards not available in the Library
- Standards organisations
- Searching for standards
British Standards Online (BSOL)
Includes British Standards, ISO standards and Eurocodes. Members of Imperial can purchase print versions at the subscriber price. FileOpen plugin is required to download standards. Please see the further instructions here. FileOpen is already installed on all College computers.
Try the following services:
British Library - the British Library at St Pancras holds some non-British standards
International
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) - all fields except electrical and electronic engineering
International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) - electrotechnical devices
International Telecommunication Union (ITU) - telecommunications and telegraphy
European
CEN European Committee for Standardization
CENELEC European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization
ETSI European Telecommunications Standards Institute
National
BSI (British Standards Institution)
These sites are a central point to search for standards information. It is rare for standards bodies to make their standards available in full text without charge.