Standards are documents which stipulate levels of performance and quality of goods and services, and conditions and procedures for operations in industry, science and commerce.
Standards, patents & trademarks
At Concordia Library, some standards are available on print only while others are availabe online via library databases. A good starting point is to search for the title of the standard in the Sofia Discovery tool. It may also be necessary to check in the databases below.
The following databases are available to the Concordia community only:
Standards published by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
Contains over 3,000 current and historic standards from the CSA (Canadian Standards Association) in English and French, plus various CSA Codes and Manuals. New standards are added as they are published.
Note: Standards can be viewed online, as well as downloaded in PDF format. PDFs must be opened in Adobe Acrobat. If you try and access a downloaded PDF standard in your browser, you will see the message "This document is protected". If your browser opens the PDF automatically, you may need to go into your Downloads folder and open the document in Adobe Acrobat from there.
Standards published by the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers).
Only current aerospace standards are included in the library's subscription, published by SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers).
Only the following standards are included in the library's subscription:
- ASHRAE 90.1-2022 (I-P)Standard 90.1-2022 (I-P Edition) -- Energy Standard for Sites and Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings (ANSI Approved; IES Co-sponsored)
- ASHRAE 55-2020 Standard 55-2020 -- Thermal Environmental Conditions for Human Occupancy (ANSI Approved)
- ASHRAE 62.1-2022 Standard 62.1-2022 -- Ventilation and Acceptable Indoor Air Quality (ANSI Approved)
The library location for print standards is designated as "STANDARD".
Standards may be consulted during all the hours that the library is open for study. Standards are physically located on LB-2 in the Webster Library. On the shelves, they are arranged in alphabetical order by the names of the standard-issuing bodies. Exceptionally, standards issued by the Quebec Government are housed in the Government Publications area, also on LB-2.
A list of frequently-used standards:
- Annual book of ASTM standards
- ASHRAE handbook. Refrigeration
- ASHRAE handbook. Fundamentals
- ASHRAE handbook. Heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning applications
- ASHRAE handbook. Heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning systems and equipment
- Canadian Electrical Code 2018
- Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code 2021
- Environmental management - life cycle assessment - principles and framework ISO 14040:06 (R2021)
- Environmental management - life cycle assessment - requirements and guidelines ISO 14044:06 (R2021)
- Manual of Concrete Practice (ACI: American Concrete Institute)
- National building code of Canada 2020
- Quebec construction code. Chapter 1, Building, and National building code of Canada 2015 (amended)
Most standards are not available for free, but some organizations do provide complimentary access, such as:
- ASHRAE Standards and Guidelines
Some titles are available for read-only - IBR Standards by ANSI
Standards incorporated by reference in the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations are available for read-only - National Fire Protection Association
Some titles are available for read-only, but account creation is required - National Research Council Publications Archive
Major national model codes are available for free: - Zero Carbon Building Standard
Patents and trademarks basics
- Patemts - Learn the basics (Canadian intellectual Property Office)
- Trademarks - Learn the basics (Canadian intellectual Property Office)
- Patents & Trademarks: Learn the Patent and Trademark Process (Udemy course)
Canada
- Canadian Patent Database (Canadian Intellectual Property Office/CIPO)
This database provides access to over 75 years of patent descriptions and images. You can search, retrieve and study more than 1,300,000 patent documents. - Canadian Trademarks Database (Canadian Intellectual Property Office/CIPO)
CIPO is offering access to a test version of the database, enabling you to look up all pending and registered trade-marks in Canada. Trade-mark information found in the database can include designs, wares and services covered by the registration, owner's name and more. - Further information regarding patents, trademarks, copyright and industrial designs can be found at the CIPO website.
Concordia researchers who are interested in developing and protecting their intellectual property should contact the Office of Research at the University.
United States
- United States Patent and Trademark Office
Search a database that covers U.S. patents. The full-text of patents from 1976 onwards is available. For older patents (1790-1975), the scanned image is available. - Patents - Searching and Downloading (Duke University Library)
- Information and links to a number of databases covering patents in the United States.
World
- EspaceNet
Patent searching of patent documents from 1836 to today. Covers United Kingdom, other European countries, European (EP) patents, World International Property Organization (WIPO), worldwide patents and Japanese patents. Bibliographic details are provided and where available the abstract, full text and images of a document. - Google Patent Search
Google Patent Search facilitates keyword and advanced searching of well over 87 million patent publications from 17 patent offices around the world. The documents are translated and many link to relevant technical papers, books, prior art, PDFs, images, citations, and related patents. - Patent Lens
Search the full-text of worldwide patent documents. Results may be annotated and may include various integrations with scholarly, technical, regulatory, or business data and literature. Service includes documents from the European Patent Office (grants and bibliographic data), USPTO (grants, applications, and assignments), WIPO applications, and the Australian Patent office.
Need help?
Contact the library for general help, or contact the subject librarian for subject-specific library help.