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Standards and Specifications Collection: Home

Describes the standards and specifications collection at Linda Hall Library. Explains how the collection can be used by both local and remote users.

Linda Hall Library Standards and Specifications Overview

Linda Hall Library has over 150,000 standards and specifications published by over 300 professional societies and associations. We have current standards, plus archival standards going back before 1920. The archival collection is supplemented by the standards transferred from the Engineering Societies’ Library. The archival collection includes, but is not limited to:

  • ANSI (American National Standards Institute)
  • ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) standards, including the Boiler & Pressure Vessel Codes
  • ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) Annual Book of Standards - the index to published standards - and published Standards volumes
  • NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) codes
  • Structural codes, such as building, electrical, fire, mechanical and plumbing

Using the Standards and Specifications Collection

Determining if the Linda Hall Library Owns a Standard

  • To see if the Linda Hall Library owns a particular standard, search the Linda Hall Library catalog. 
  • Please note that many older standards are uncatalogued. The Reference staff can provide assistance in locating uncatalogued materials.

Using and Requesting Standards and Specifications

  • All standards and specifications must be used in the library.  
  • Linda Hall's Document Delivery Services can often provide photocopies, including many hard-to-obtain archival standards and specifications, if copyright procedures and permission agreements allow this. For questions regarding copyright and photocopying of standards, please contact Document Delivery Services.

For current standards that are not available for borrowing or photocopying, users can also contact the publisher or a commercial provider. Please see the lists of providers and standards/specifications organizations.