What is an engineering standard?

An engineering standard is a document that has been developed and established within the consensus principles of the organization and which meets the requirements of procedures and regulations. Full consensus standards are developed with the participation of all parties who have a stake in the standards’ development and/or use.

How are standards named?

Standards are named using the acronym of the standard granting organization, the number of the standard, and the year the standard was issued. Examples include:

• ASCE/SEI 7-16
• ASTM F963-17
• ISO 13485:2016

In general, full-text standards are not available free on the Web. The following links provide information on standards, as well as searchable indexes:

• American Concrete Institute (ACI)
• American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Standard Store
• American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
• American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
• ASSIST, United States Department of Defense
• American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) International
• Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Standards Association (IEEE-SA)
• International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
• Municode
  • Online access to municipal codes and ordinances of over 1,000 local governments in the United States.
• Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA)
• Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) International

VMI Faculty:
Please email the exact standard title, standard number, and standard publication year to Lt. Col. Kocevar-Weidinger at kocevar-weidingerea@vmi.edu.

Cadets:
If an individual cadet or cadet design team requires a specific standard for a class project, follow these steps:

1. Send the exact standard title, standard number, and standard publication year of the required standard to the instructor of the course for which the standard is needed.

2. If the instructor approves the purchase, they will forward the following to Lt. Col. Kocevar-Weidinger at kocevar-weidingerea@vmi.edu:

   • The exact standard title, standard number, and standard publication year
   • The name of the cadet requesting the standard

Preston Library will purchase one copy of the approved standard and notify the faculty member and/or cadet when it is available for use in the Library.

Preston Library may purchase standards from the following providers. Availability is subject to cost and budget constraints.