Standards are detailed documents created locally or by internationally recognised standards organisations.They ensure consistency and reliability in a product or service and provide a quality benchmark for anyone not involved in development. Standards are used in Engineering to ensure anything you make or design meets these requirements and in other fields such as Computing to ensure best practice and service quality.
Standards often contain technical specifications and guidelines for manufacture. Many companies and countries have their own standard guidelines while ISO standards are agreed internationally. They may relate to performance, design, specifications etc.
Some standards are available on CityLibrary Search, you can search by the Standard number or put in search terms and click the More button under Content type on the left of the screen and select Standard and click Apply. Otherwise, search the relevant database such as British Standards Online (BSOL). Some training and webinars are available on BSOL.
Some advice on referencing Standards can be found on Cite Them Right Online in the Technical and Scientific Information section.
A patent is a document granting the sole right for development and manufacture of an idea to the inventor for a set period of time. In the UK patents are granted by the Intellectual Property Office and are only valid in the UK.
To be patentable an idea must be new, be innovative and ideally have an industrial application.
Patents are used in industry and Engineering to protect ideas and inventions.
