Think of standards as rules for uniformity, size, quality, performance, shape, definition and testing methodology of manufactured products. Specifications are concise statements of requirements for materials, products or services that are to be purchased by an industry or government agency. Specifications are limited to a project or agency. Standards are specifications that are recognized as the most practical and appropriate current solution, that is agreed upon by a recognized authority, for a recurring problem. Most standards are created by professional societies or governmental organizations.
Many countries also have national organizations which coordinate standardization.
The most convenient and efficient first step in searching for standards is to search national standards bodies collections over the web . Both of these standards organizations provide searchable databases for their vast standards collections via the web . You can search by keyword, subject, or standard number on both sites and retrieve standards citations relavant to your given topic. The ANSI collection is a good place to begin, as ANSI is considered the official standard issuing organization of the United States. If you locate a standard of interest to you by searching the ANSI or ASTM collections, simply bring the standard number and title to the Reference Desk on the first floor of Grainger.