USPTO's Online service provides a central location where you can search, file, pay, and obtain status for patents and trademarks.
Using PATENTSCOPE you can search patent documents including published international patent applications.
Worldwide "Patent Searching" provides simple listings of quick links to all the patent databases on the Internet. If you want to do a search, you only need go to one page, and select the database and entry point you want with a single click. Help and information are provided. However, most of the patent search databases are fairly easy to use.
The "Index and Directory of Industry Standards" is an excellent multi-volume tool for locating United States and international standards by subject and by standards-issuing organization. This non-electronic source is useful for verifying that a particular standard is still current and for ascertaining the title of a standard in cases when you only have a standard number. It also provides addresses of United States and international standards-issuing organizations. Texas Tech University Library keeps the "Index and Directory of Industry Standards" in the stacks on the 5th level under the call number T59.2.U6 I5.
IHS sells copies of standards. Its website features a search index for their products. You can look up a particular standard, discover whether IHS has it, and find the latest revision available, number of pages, and price.
We also have access to the database, ASTM standards. Here you can find more than 12,000 standards across many industries.
The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) serves as a national coordinator of voluntary standards activities and as an approval organization and clearinghouse for consensus standards. Over a hundred standards-issuing organizations submit their standards to ANSI. Among these organizations are such diverse groups as Underwriters Laboratories, the National Forest Products Association, and the American Dental Association.
Texas Tech University Library purchases ANSI standards selectively. The Library does not purchase the entire collection. In order to determine if the Library owns a standard, search the Library's catalog using keywords from the standard's title. If you are a Texas Tech student, staff member, or faculty member, contact your department's liaison librarian if you want a standard purchased. Another approach to getting the standard would be to use the Document Delivery service (link on the Library's Homepage; be sure to use the standards form) to request an electronic copy of it from another library.
In order to locate an ANSI standard, consult the "Catalog of American National Standards." The Texas Tech University Library has a paper copy of this publication in the stacks (5th level). Its call number is T59.A51. The "Catalog of American National Standards" is also available on the ANSI website (see below). Both versions of the catalog provide the standard's designation (including the year of approval), title, number, and price. The paper copy of the publication includes a subject index. The website can be searched using keywords from the title of the standard.
If you have additional questions about the status of a standard, contact ANSI directly (phone: 212-642-4900; fax: 212-398-0023).
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies from more than 100 different countries. The mission of ISO is to promote the development of standardization and related activities in the world with a view to facilitating the international exchange of goods and services, and to developing cooperation in the spheres of intellectual, scientific, technological, and economic activity.
Texas Tech University Library has expanded access as of November 2020 to the ISO Standards in our ASTM database subscription. Access is below, as is the ISO website direct link.
The Northwest Texas Small Business Development Center subscribes to a product that provides full-text copies of United States military standards. This product is available for use by the public. The Center is located near the Science Spectrum at 2579 South Loop 289. Contact Procurement Assistance Center staff for more information (phone: 806-745-1637; toll free: 800-992-7232; email: e.melot@ttusbdc.org).