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Food Science & Agricultural Chemistry

Resources for Food Science students and researchers

Standards

What is a standard?

Standards are documents which describe methods for manufacturing, measurement, description and testing of materials and products. They may be issued by companies or professional or industry organizations both national and international. The application of standards ensures that products and services are consistent, compatible, safe and effective.


Standards available at the McGill Library

Annual Book of American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Standards: Available in print at the Schulich Library (call number: TA 401 A653). You can search the ASTM website in order to determine in which volume a specific standard is located.

IEEE Standards: Full-text, searchable database of current IEEE Standards.

For other standards try searching the McGill catalogue with the standard title, number (examples: 'ISO 10303', 'ISO/DIS 14001'), or issuing body. There are many books about specific standards in the collection but few actual standards.


Standards not held at McGill

Standards cannot be ordered through interlibrary loan. You may be able to obtain other standards at other local libraries:

Concordia University Standards Collection

Bibliothèque de l'École Polytechnique de Montréal

If you wish to purchase a standard:

If you wish to purchase a standard:
Accuris Standards Store

Full list of other library catalogues


Some suggested websites

American National Standards Institute (ANSI)

American Society for Testing and Materials Standards (ASTM)

British Standards Institution (BSI)

Bureau de normalisation du Québec (BNQ)

Canadian Standards Association (CSA)

International Organization for Standardization (ISO)

National Information Standards Organization (NISO)

Standards Council of Canada/Conseil canadien des normes

Patents

What is a patent?

A patent is a grant of legal rights given to the inventor of a new process, product or other invention, usually by a governmental body. In exchange for full disclosure about the invention, the inventor is granted exclusive rights to make, use, or sell the product for a set period of time. Patent documents are a good way to learn about particular products, technologies, and industries. Below are resources to help you find patents.


Patent Databases

Derwent Innovations Index: Covering 48 worldwide patent-issuing authorities, this database indexes over 51 million patents, from 1963-present. The recommended resource for searching by topic or keyword.

Espacenet: From the European Patent Office, this database offers access to more than 90 million patent documents worldwide, containing information about inventions and technical developments from 1836-present.

Google Patents: Indexes nearly 11 million patents and over 5 million patent applications from 17 countries. Coverage for patents dates back to 1790; coverage for applications is from 2001-present.

Patent Lens: Offers 100 million patent records from over 95 different patent-granting authorities worldwide.

Patentscope: Patent database from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), covering 55 patent-issuing authorities.

SciFinder: Comprehensive resource for chemistry and related patents, covering 63 worldwide patent-issuing authorities.


Patent Offices

Canadian Patent Database: The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) database offers full-text patents and patent applications. Coverage is from 1869-present.

European Patent Register: Consolidated patent registry for 27 European countries.

United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office Patent Search: Search or browse published patents and patent applications.

USPTO Database: Search for patents and applications from the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Full-text patents available from 1976-present; more limited patents and images available from 1790-1976.

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