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Library Subject Guides

Standards: Home

Standards available at the University of Canterbury

What are standards?

Standards are documented agreements containing technical specifications or other precise criteria to be used consistently as rules, guidelines, or definitions of characteristics, to ensure that materials, products, processes and services are fit for their purpose.

Standard Organisations

Standards New Zealand (NZS)
Standards New Zealand is a crown entity operating under the Standards Act 1988. The Engineering Library holds a current subscription to all New Zealand standards via the Standards New Zealand Search Engine.

Standards Australia (AS)
Standards Australia is an independent not-for-profit organization whose primary role is to prepare Australian Standards.

British Standards Institution (BSI)
BSI was the first national standards body in the world.

International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies from some 130 countries, one from each country.

American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) serves as administrator and coordinator of the United States private sector voluntary standardization system.

ASTM Technical Standards for Industry Worldwide
ASTM is the developer and provider of voluntary consensus standards, related technical information, and services being internationally recognized. A complete set of 2007 ASTM standards is kept in the mobile stack at TA 401 .A512 st on level one of the Engineering Library.

National Institute of Standards and Technology
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) was established by US Congress.

International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)
The International Electrotechnical Commission is the international standards and conformity assessment body for all fields of electrotechnology.  The IEC is a world organization that prepares and publishes international standards for all electrical, electronic and related technologies.

What standards does the library hold ?

New Zealand Standards and joint Australia/New Zealand standards are available online from the New Zealand Standards database. Older New Zealand (NZS), and Australia/New Zealand standards (AS/NZS) are also available as print copies and many of these can be found in the library catalogue. Additionally the library holds many Australian (AS) and British standards (BS).  American ASTM standards are online in the ASTM standards (Engineering Workbench).  All IEEE standards can be found under the IEEE Xplore database. The Library also holds a collection of various international standards.

Finding Standards

Please use the links below to search for standards. Not all standards are listed on the Library catalogue. Please ask at the EPS Library - Kā Puna Pūkahataka me te Pūtaiao lending desk for retrieval.

Strict copyright regulations apply to all standards

Accessing New Zealand Standards

Open the University of Canterbury Standards Link

Standards New Zealand

A new window pops up

Text instructions are:

  1. Search for standard in Your Subscription
  2. Click on the CURRENT button beside standard number
  3. A new search window appears
  4. Click on View PDF

Getting Help

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Dave Lane
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